According to Researchers, Budget Plan Would Batter Rural Hospital Finances

On June 12, Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez with KFF Health News reported that cuts to Medicaid and other federal health programs proposed in President Donald Trump’s budget plan would rapidly push more than 300 financially struggling rural hospitals toward a fiscal cliff. This is according to researchers who track the facilities’ finances.

“The hospitals would be at a disproportionate risk of closure, service reductions, or ending inpatient care, according to a report authored by experts from the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research following a request from Senate Democrats….Many of those hospitals are in Kentucky, Louisiana, California, and Oklahoma, according to the analysis,” Rodriguez wrote.

On June 12, Senate Democrats sent a letter to President Trump, Leader John Thune, and Speaker Mike Johnson, accompanied by research data. “Addressing the crisis in rural healthcare access is a national, bipartisan priority, and it should be bipartisan to not worsen it. However, if your party passes these healthcare cuts into law, Americans in rural communities across the country risk losing healthcare services and jobs supported by their local hospitals,” the letter writers urged.

“Rural hospitals are sounding the alarm over proposed healthcare cuts in President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending package, warning the changes could force them to scale back services or close their doors,” Reuters’ Andy Sullivan and Richard Cowan wrote on June 13. “The bill would reduce federal spending on Medicaid, the health program for low-income Americans, by tightening enrollment standards and limiting federal aid to states.”