Read the Full Report Here
Washington, D.C. – As Medicaid Awareness Month begins, Protect Our Care is releasing a new report detailing how Republicans’ historic cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are devastating hospitals, providers, and patients across the country — pushing hundreds of facilities to the brink of closure and leaving communities without critical care. The report comes as Protect Our Care’s Hospital Crisis Watch Map has reached over 800 hospitals, nursing homes, maternity wards, and other critical providers nationwide that have shuttered, are at risk of closing, or have cut essential services.
Trump and Congressional Republicans have made the largest health care cuts in history, slashing $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA, all to fund massive tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. These cuts aren’t just hurting patients; they are destabilizing local economies. This February, 28,000 health care workers lost their jobs and more than 150,000 health care jobs are at risk nationwide, while Americans see health care costs skyrocket from coast to coast.
“Republicans didn’t just cut health care — they set off a chain reaction that’s pushing over 800 hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes to the brink of collapse, forcing mothers, seniors, and children to scramble for care that no longer exists,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “From rural towns to major cities, Americans are losing maternity wards, mental health services, and even their local emergency rooms. It’s a full-scale assault on the health and safety of everyday Americans, all so Republicans can hand out tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.”
By the Numbers:
- Over 800 hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes have shut down, cut services, or are at risk of doing so after GOP policies gutted over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA — forcing Americans to travel further for maternity care and emergency rooms, face longer wait times, and pay more for their care.
- 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.
- Since the GOP cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid, including over $0.5 trillion from hospitals:
- Over 400 hospitals are at risk of closure or cuts
- Nearly 60 hospital wards have shuttered, from maternity wards to pediatric units
- Multiple hospitals have converted to standalone emergency departments
- Over a dozen hospitals have fully shut down.
- By gutting Medicaid, Republicans gutted the largest payer of maternal health, mental health, and nursing home care in the country. Now, expectant mothers, seniors, and children struggling with mental health are forced to pay the price as maternity wards, nursing homes, and treatment centers shutter:
- Over 240 clinics have been forced to close since the passage of the big, ugly bill.
- Nearly 30 maternity wards have shuttered since the passage of the big, ugly bill.
- Multiple inpatient psychiatric units, eating disorder clinics, substance use treatment facilities, and therapy centers have been forced to close.
- Over 570 nursing homes are at risk of service cuts and closure.
- Health care is the largest employer in the country but thanks to Republicans, an estimated 477,000 health workers will lose their jobs as a result of Medicaid cuts. Republicans are undermining an industry that employs millions of community servants, from doctors to nurses to social workers, to hand out tax breaks to the ultrawealthy.
