Protect Our Care Releases New Report and Interactive Map on Nationwide Hospital Closures Resulting from the GOP Budget Bill
Watch the Full Event Here.
Read the Report Here.
View Hospital Crisis Watch Here.
Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and the American Mobilization Project joined Protect Our Care to shine a light on nationwide hospital closures resulting from Donald Trump and Republicans’ budget bill. During the call, Protect Our Care relaunched Hospital Crisis Watch and released a new report featuring a foreword from Senator Murphy.
Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have passed the largest health care cuts in history in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. These cuts threaten to shutter hundreds of hospitals, strip access to maternity wards and emergency rooms, and eliminate nearly half a million health care jobs. People will have to travel further for care and face longer wait times in emergency rooms. Local and state economies will suffer, and entire communities will be left without access to care, all so Republicans could give massive tax breaks to the ultrawealthy. The American Mobilization Project is working to highlight the devastating effects the GOP budget bill will have on hospitals and care across the country and hold Republicans accountable for their vote.
“We have a crisis coming of epic proportion in our health care system,” said Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). “When you cut $800 billion from Medicaid, hospitals, health centers, and nursing homes close. It’s really important that everybody in America understands that when your hospital closes, when your father is kicked out of his nursing home because it shuts its doors, that wasn’t inevitable. This is all the result of a choice that Donald Trump and Republicans made to prioritize tax cuts for the very wealthy over health care for Americans.”
“I see patients every week who have delayed or forgone the necessary treatments because they lack sufficient health care coverage,” said Chris Ford, MD, emergency medicine physician in Milwaukee. “Too many Americans are slipping through the cracks, and with Republicans in Congress slashing Medicaid, it’s only going to get worse. Cuts to coverage mean that more patients will forgo basic care or show up to my packed emergency room while hospitals drown in the cost of uncompensated care. These hospitals are integral parts of communities, and they’re serving the most vulnerable. I’m fearful when I think about the patients I serve in Wisconsin and what it would mean for them if we are not here, if our practices and our hospitals close.”
“With Medicaid cuts, our family will struggle with the financial pressure of meeting out-of-pocket maximums for physical health care and prescriptions every single year,” said Jessica Seawright, patient storyteller from Wisconsin. “To meet the challenges I see as a parent, a therapist, and a researcher, rural communities require stable and available resources every single day of the year. This bill passed by Trump and Republicans to cut Medicaid will be devastating for my patients.”
“As an OB/GYN practicing in rural Virginia and North Carolina, I’ve already seen too many hospitals in my area cut services or close entirely. These extreme health care cuts will only make things worse,” said Dr. Makunda Abdul-Mbacke, OB/GYN from Axton, VA. “Labor and delivery units are often the first to close, forcing families to drive long distances to receive basic maternity care. For many, that’s simply not safe – or even possible. These health care cuts don’t just impact budgets, they put mothers and babies at risk.”
“Donald Trump and Republicans are decimating America’s hospitals to give handouts to billionaires, and patients everywhere will pay the price,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Their cuts will slam hospital doors shut, wipe out maternity care, and force families to drive hours in an emergency, putting lives at risk every single day. Hard-working Americans and their communities will bear the brunt of these cruel cuts. We’re making sure Americans know exactly who chose to put the ultrawealthy ahead of the health and lives of the American people — and we will hold them accountable.”
By The Numbers:
- Over 330 hospitals are at immediate risk of closing or scaling back their services and over 750 hospitals total are at risk of closing in the years to come after GOP policies gut over $400 billion in critical funding – forcing more Americans to travel further for maternity care and emergency rooms, and face longer wait times.
- Hospitals count on Medicaid to keep their doors open. Medicaid accounts for one-fifth of spending on hospitals, one-fifth of hospital discharges, and at least one in five inpatient days in nearly every state.
- Hospitals are the sixth-largest employer in the country. Republicans will undermine an industry that employs nearly 7 million community servants, from doctors to nurses to social workers, to hand out tax breaks to the ultrawealthy. An estimated 477,000 health workers will lose their jobs as a result of GOP cuts to Medicaid.