Last month, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) joined Protect Our Care in relaunching the organization’s Hospital Crisis Watch. Protect Our Care hosts an interactive map and a report that outlines how the new federal budget will shutter rural hospitals, slash healthcare services, and leave communities in crisis. By limiting the ways that states fund Medicaid and reimburse hospitals for care, Protect Our Care states, the “GOP tax scam… will shutter struggling hospitals and make it nearly impossible for states to manage the burden of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history without kicking millions off their coverage and taking away benefits. Forty-nine states rely on taxes on health care providers to finance their share of Medicaid spending. The American Hospital Association, the nation’s largest health care provider association, opposes restrictions on provider taxes and warns that it will increase the burden of uncompensated care on hospitals and force facilities to close.”
At present:
- 330 hospitals are at risk of immediate closure or of scaling back critical services.
- Over 750 hospitals are at risk of closing in coming years.
- Americans will be forced to travel further for maternity care and emergency rooms and face longer wait times for care.
- An estimated 477,000 health workers will lose their jobs because of GOP cuts to Medicaid.
MADDIE TWOMEY; [email protected] or [email protected]
Twomey is the communications director at Protect Our Care.
Twomey told the Institute for Public Accuracy: “This is a top priority for us and an ongoing campaign. We had already been tracking hospital closures and we now have an interactive map that we are updating every day. We are doing a comprehensive scan of local headlines and data sources to see what is happening with hospitals. There is no standard database to go to check on hospitals. Sometimes hospitals are more transparent than others. Sometimes it’s clear that hospitals are closing from the projected revenue loss from Medicaid cuts, but others are not willing to share that––because they’re worried about backlash from Republicans. That is an issue we’ve seen already.
“The effects [of GOP cuts] are already enormous. It’s outpaced even my expectations, and everyone in the field was already very concerned about rural hospitals. They were already hanging on by a thread, so these cuts are devastating. Hospitals have to work with a budget and project costs, and many of them are being forced to close doors to cut maternity wards or limit clinics. It’s astounding to see. We were tracking this as a longer term effort and did not expect [these changes] to come as fast as they are. It’s having an impact on rural providers already, even though these provisions haven’t yet taken full effect.
“Rural hospitals are at particular risk of closure and cutting services. But these closures don’t just impact rural areas––they will impact all of us. I’m in Boston, for instance. As clinics close in New Hampshire and rural areas of Vermont, people will travel to Massachusetts to get their care. That means longer emergency room wait times, longer wait times to give birth. That creates complications and is unsafe, but it also drives up costs because of ripple effects through the system. Rural areas are where hospitals are the most cash-strapped and will feel the pain because they are dependent on Medicaid, but this will touch every corner of our medical system.”
Twomey also emphasized that hospitals are not the only healthcare facilities at risk. “Nursing homes will also be deeply impacted,” Twomey said. “People don’t always realize that Medicaid is a huge payer for long term care and a huge part of aging, even in middle class families. Nursing homes will be impacted; that will be something to watch. There is a narrative from this administration that they aren’t touching seniors’ healthcare––but it couldn’t be further from the truth. This is going to impact people of all ages, from birth in the maternity ward to the nursing home.”