pull the rug

アメリカのトランプ政権下で保険制度の抜本改革が行われようとしています。

具体的に言うと、アメリカにおいて、収入が乏しい国民に対する医療保険制度であるMedicaidの予算カットが議会に提案されているというものです。


Susan Lees works at least 40 to 50 hours a week as a nanny for two young kids. Recently, she started walking dogs while the kids are in school to “make ends meet.” But despite working around 50 to 60 hours a week, she relies on Medicaid to pay for her medical bills.

“It’s not like I can just go out and afford big-time insurance,” Lees said. “I get state health but I also pay into it. And if they cut it – I’m 50 years old now and I try to keep myself basically healthy – but the little things I do need would come to a stop.”

Lees, who is single and lives in Danbury, Conn., is worried about the Senate's proposed health care bill, which calls for steep cuts to Medicaid.

（中略）

The most recent draft of the bill would cut Medicaid funding by $772 billion over the next decade and cause enrollment to decline by 16 percent by 2026, according to the recently released Congressional Budget Office report. Overall, the CBO says, 22 million fewer Americans would be without health care by 2026.

“We have never seen a safety net rolled back like this in American history,” said Bruce Siegel, president of America’s Essential Hospitals, an association of about 300 hospitals dedicated to providing health care to poorer Americans. “It will pull the rug out from under working people and their hospitals. It could undermine the whole insurance market for everyone.”
(Jack Brewster. How the Senate Health Care Bill Could Hurt Medicaid Recipients. Time. June 28, 2017.)


オバマ政権下ではこのMedicaidの拡充が計られてきたところ、トランプ政権に代わってから状況が変わったようです。

さて、このような状況変化が、


will pull the rug out from under working people and their hospitals


ということで、"pull the rug"という表現が使われています。

"pull the rug from under you"という成句で知られる表現ですが、Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idiomsでは以下のように定義されています。


If someone pulls the rug from under you or pulls the rug from under your feet, they suddenlty stop helping and supporting you.


つまり、これまでの状況から一転して、サポートを打ち切る、援助を止める、という意味です。日本語では「梯子を外す」などと言ったりしますね。