From Alaska to Michigan to New Hampshire, Republican health care cuts are putting care at risk and pushing hospitals and providers closer to the edge. Throughout April, Protect Our Care held events with hospital leaders, providers, and advocates to raise the alarm after Republicans slashed more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, putting coverage for more than 15 million people at risk. Rural hospitals, in particular, are being squeezed with leaders warning that losing Medicaid funding could mean cutting services or shutting their doors altogether. In places like Alaska, where getting to a hospital is already a challenge, even small changes can have life-or-death consequences. Advocates in New York warned that the impacts are already showing in higher costs and longer wait times, while families in Georgia are seeing trusted care centers disappear entirely.
These stories leave no doubt that Republican cuts are decimating the American health care system, forcing hospitals to the brink, stripping care from communities, and putting lives at risk across the country.
Michigan
JJ Hodshire, CEO, Hillsdale Hospital, Michigan, said, “Cuts to Medicaid translate directly to hospital closures, service disruptions and detrimental losses in our care system across rural America. Rural hospitals like Hillsdale Hospital rely on Medicaid because of our disproportionate payer mix, and when that source of basic reimbursement disappears, our patients are forced to choose between paying high Marketplace premiums or going without coverage entirely. That is not sustainable for rural communities or hospitals. We have to speak up on behalf of hospitals and their patients to ensure access to care for every community, no matter how rural. When we unite our voices as an industry of health care providers, we are igniting education and awareness in all the places it matters most.”
- WILX: Rural Hospitals in Michigan Brace for Federal Medicaid Cuts
- WILX: Hillsdale Hospital, Michigan Leaders Highlight Impact of Medicaid Cuts on Rural Hospitals
- WLAJ: Hillsdale Hospital CEO Hodshire Shares Concerns of Medicaid Cuts for Rural Hospitals
- WLNS: Michigan Health Care Leaders Raise Medicaid Cut Concerns
New Hampshire
Ed Shanshala, CEO, Ammonoosuc Community Health Services, New Hampshire, said, “We’re all feeling the tension and pressure from changes to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and reduced funding—there are a lot of moving targets right now. Families are making hard choices—whether to keep health insurance or put food on the table.” [Post-Event Release]
- WMUR: Health Leaders Concerned About Future of Rural Hospitals in New Hampshire
- New Hampshire Bulletin: Coös County Health Center CEO Says New Rural Health Funds Not Enough to Counteract Medicaid Cuts
- Patch: New Hampshire Health Leaders Warn of Growing Risks to Rural Hospitals
- Conway Daily Sun: Coös County Health Center CEO Says New Rural Health Funds Not Enough to Counteract Medicaid Cuts
- Caledonian Record: North Country Health Center CEO Says New Rural Health Funds Not Enough to Counteract Medicaid Cuts
Alaska
Barbara Bigelow, Former Alaska Hospital CEO & Long-Term Care Executive, said, “Cutting Medicaid in Alaska to the bare bones is a very bad idea—for population health, for women delivering babies, and for older folks.” “We’re also privileged to be able to deliver our babies here in Ketchikan…and the only way off this island is by commercial air or boat. And when you’re in labor, that just doesn’t work.” “In a medical emergency, this is life and death—we are hours away, and weather dependent.”
Arizona
Joy Maines, PA-C MMS, local health care provider, said, “Beyond the immediate danger, the financial fallout would be devastating. When people lose coverage they don’t stop getting sick, they just stop getting care until it becomes an emergency. I have already dealt with this in our offices, premiums skyrocketing to astronomical amounts, people being priced out.”
Georgia
Callie Harper, mother of two from Savannah, said, “The Savannah Birth and Wellness Center – the place where my son was born, the place whose midwife held me via phone as my daughter was about to come crashing into the world – closed in March. This is a space that used to hold new life, and now holds a press conference about the unbearable cost women and families pay when care is a privilege and not a promise. During my second pregnancy – a pregnancy I navigated with crushing anxiety and devastation, in rural areas, far from hospitals – I understood something in my bones: proximity to care is not a convenience. It is the difference between life and death. We are gambling with lives when we let hospitals close.”
New York
Mark Hannay, Director, Metro NY Health Care for All, said, “Medicaid is one of the cornerstones of our health care system, covering millions of New Yorkers and helping keep hospitals across the state open. Slashing over a trillion dollars from Medicaid and the ACA is a direct attack on patients, providers, and entire communities. We’re already seeing the consequences—hospitals at risk of closure, longer wait times, and higher costs for everyone. New Yorkers need their leaders to stand up, reject these harmful cuts, and fight to protect affordable health care.”
Virginia
Jamie Lockhart, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said, “Tens of thousands of Virginians rely on a Planned Parenthood health center for care, from birth control to cancer screenings to STI detection and treatment. Medicaid is one of the primary ways those patients pay for care. When politicians interfere with our ability to make personal health decisions — to choose their provider, to access preventive care — entire communities suffer.”