More than 400 hospitals across the United States are facing closure or slashing crucial services due to coming Medicaid cuts, a new analysis from progressive watchdog organization, Public Citizen, has found.
Cuts to the federal and state health insurance program are expected to reduce access to health care for many Americans, raising insurance costs and limiting state funding.
Roughly 8 million people are projected to become uninsured by 2034, the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said.
Losing millions of patients could throttle income for 446 hospitals in 44 states and Washington, D.C., Public Citizen said. The hospitals serve 6.6 million patients and employ 275,458 workers.
“[The cuts] will have knock-on effects on hospitals that disproportionately serve these communities, deepening the financial strain already plaguing rural and safety-net hospitals and compromising their ability to deliver care, potentially leading many to close,” the report warned.
When will it happen?
It’s not clear when the hospitals could feel these effects, but the center estimates 5.2 million adults will lose Medicaid when new eligibility requirements related to employment take effect on January 1, 2027.
Medicaid cuts are set to be implemented over the next decade as part of the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful” tax and spending bill, eventually totaling $1 trillion.
Some of the changes to the state and federal health insurance program are already in effect.
A federal incentive that paid states to expand their Medicaid coverage ended in January. It was known as the Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage.
Red districts have hundreds of at-risk hospitals
Several states have a higher number of at-risk hospitals, the analysis found, including California, New York, Illinois and Washington.
California, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Washington all have more than a quarter of their hospitals at risk.
While there are more at-risk hospitals in Democratic-led states, impacts are felt across party lines, Public Citizen noted. There are 342 at-risk hospitals in the districts of House and Senate Republicans who voted for the cuts.
“It is notable that while there are more at-risk hospitals in Democrat-led states and congressional districts, a substantial number of hospitals in Republican-led states and congressional districts are threatened by Medicaid cuts,” Public Citizen wrote.
In all states, nearly 20 percent of the 446 at-risk hospitals serve high-poverty areas. At-risk hospitals serve a larger share of Black and Hispanic residents, as well.
Hospitals were considered to be at-risk if their total expenses exceeded their income from 2022-2024 and if Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program or a mix of Medicaid and Medicare made up 20 percent or more of their income during the same years.
The report used data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, covering about 95 percent of all U.S. hospitals. It did not name the hospitals.
