LANSING — This week, a rural hospital in Southwest Michigan announced it would cease operations pending closure, citing “ongoing financial challenges facing rural healthcare providers,” following the passage of the so-called ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ (OBBBA), the Republicans’ signature law that cut $1 trillion from Medicaid to give special tax handouts to billionaires. Like Sturgis Hospital, Michigan’s rural hospitals face heightened risk for closure after OBBBA’s passage due to “shortfalls in Medicaid reimbursements” and “an increase in uninsured patients.”
In response, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel released the following statement:
“Republicans at every level of the ballot—Mike Rogers, the GOP gubernatorial candidates, and every Michigan Republican in Congress—supported slashing Medicaid so their billionaire donors could get even richer. They got exactly what they wanted, and now people are losing access to life-saving healthcare services. Michiganders will remember this betrayal when they go to vote this November.”
Michigan Republicans up and down the ballot supported the Medicaid cuts that led Sturgis hospital to close and other rural hospitals to face increased risk of closure:
- Michigan Republicans in Congress like Tom Barrett and Bill Huizenga all voted to gut Medicaid and rip away health care. Barrett was even caught laughing on the House floor after his deciding vote to benefit his wealthy donors while hurting Michiganders. Furthermore, Huizenga voted repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Barrett opposes the ACA, calling health care tax credits “not real tax credits.” And both Mike Bouchard Jr. and Robert Lulgjuraj indicated they’d be a reliable vote for the cuts.
- Mike Rogers “firmly supported” OBBBA and was caught spreading a “widely debunked lie” that the law won’t kick Michiganders off of Medicaid. Rogers has said that Michigan’s rural hospitals would have “adequate protection” from the Medicaid cuts he supports, a claim that one doctor in Mid-Michigan called “either profound ignorance or a deliberate deception on his part.” Rogers’ support for cutting Medicaid isn’t new—while in Congress, he “voted 14 times from 2003-15 to weaken Medicaid.”
- John James voted for Trump’s price-hiking OBBBA that cut Medicaid and is forcing rural hospitals to close, and when pressed last fall, James even kept the door open to ending Medicaid expansion entirely in Michigan. Perry Johnson praised Trump’s Medicaid-cutting law and called it a “win for Michigan,” while Mike Cox cheered the passage of the law after he previously led the fight to block the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
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