Similar stories are already emerging across the country as providers are forced to put new projects on pause, hold off on making new hires, and consider which services can be eliminated to keep the lights on.
NBC News reported that a hospital in south central Kansas has been forced to maintain a hiring freeze as a result of the bill, and that the CEO of a “25-bed rural hospital in Hugo, Colorado, said he may soon have to start cutting services for patients, including long-term care.”
New Mexico Hospital Association CEO Troy Clark told local news outlet Source NM the “uncertainty about the depth of the cuts is preventing hospitals from hiring additional staff for new programs and may result” in “hospitals cutting staff in intensive care units and labor and delivery services.”
In neighboring Arizona, Gary Kartchner — CEO of Benson Hospital, outside of Tuscon — asked local news KGUN9: “What services am I potentially going to have to cut?” Those cuts will have cascading effects, as the hospital is the second-largest employer in town and large reductions in spending will mean less economic activity in the community as a whole.
On the other side of the country, Vermont’s Brattleboro Memorial Hospital was forced to find a new contractor for its emergency room services mere days before Trump signed his bill into law. Hospital CEO Christopher Dougherty characterized the Big Beautiful Bill as “vicious,” adding that hospitals are “struggling already” and Trump’s law “doesn’t help us get out of this.”
In nearby Maine, a hospital system “warned it will need to reduce its workforce and cut back on some services partially because of cuts to Medicaid,” according to local news WGME.
Hospitals in metropolitan areas are also bracing for cuts. In Minneapolis, the city’s largest safety net hospital is expected to lose $145 million in funding a year from the Medicaid cuts. Staff are predicting the lost revenue will lead to “long lines in the ER and cuts to major specialty programs.”
As The America Prospect notes, health care providers have laid off staff at facilities and systems in Rhode Island, California, and New York state. Providers in Maine and Indiana have warned of imminent firings as a result of lower federal spending.
It isn’t just Medicaid patients who are facing imminent hardship. A new analysis from health policy think tank KFF found that for people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act, premiums in over 100 marketplace insurers are rising by a median of 15%. Vox characterized it as a “record-setting pace.”
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