Nursing homes gave Trump millions. HHS used their talking points to throw out a costly rule

Nursing home firms gave President Donald Trump's super PAC $4.8M in Aug. and Sept. of 2025. Now, he's killing a rule that has been costing them cash.

According to The New York Times' Kenneth P. Vogel and Christina Jewett, the administration has placed a 10-year ban on a rule that "[requires] increased staffing levels in an effort to reduce neglect among residents."

The cash resulted in a lunch at Trump's golf club, where executives took their lobbying efforts directly to the president. Despite evidence showing staff shortages lead to injuries and deadly infections, they got their moratorium.

The industry thinks that the requirements dramatically increase costs and cut into profits.

"Starting in early August, the industry began making donations that over the course of weeks would eventually total nearly $4.8 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC devoted to Mr. Trump and run by his allies," said the report.

Bill Weisberg, the CEO of Saber Healthcare Group, told the Times in a text message that the group "urged the president to formally repeal the harmful minimum staffing mandate, which would have surely forced providers throughout the country to close their doors to new residents — or possibly close their doors altogether."

A month later, the Department of Health and Human Services used donors' talking points to throw out the rule.

As Baby Boomers age, long-term care facilities are becoming increasingly important. Those who advocate for patients' rights argue that increased staff are desperately needed.

"By one estimate, the staffing rule could have saved 13,000 lives of nursing home residents per year," the report said. "It set off a tense debate over whether the industry, still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, could have found the funds to attract the staff needed to meet the new requirements. Research has suggested that the industry relies on a warren of corporations to conceal profits — profits that could have been used to improve care."

National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care director Lori Smetanka told the Times, “Residents are not getting the care they need. They’re dying from a lack of care.”

It's difficult to know the full impact the standard would have had because it was never fully enacted.

A "nonpartisan government analyst expected that state and federal governments would have kicked in an additional $22 billion over 10 years to help the industry boost staffing."

The report goes on to note that it's just one of many examples of lobbying the president directly through hefty donations. Some of the biggest accomplishments have come from donations resulting in pardons. The Wall Street Journal reported in December that the going rate is about $1 million.

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