Our local hospital, Olympic Medical Center, is running at a loss and threatened by the same issues as other rural hospitals. OMC is the largest employer on the North Olympic Peninsula. If it closes the economy as well as local patients will be devastated. The article doesn’t identify OMC as threatened which means that many other hospitals are in even worse shape.
The Big Ugly Threat to Safety Net Hospitals
Analyzing the hospitals put most at-risk by the Republican tax and budget reconciliation bill
By Eileen O’Grady, Public Citizen
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed a Republican budget reconciliation package into law that will decimate affordable health care for millions of Americans and risk the closure of rural hospitals. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which opponents of the law nicknamed the Big Ugly Law (BUL), will cut $911 billion in federal spending on Medicaid and CHIP over the next 10 years, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Draconian work and eligibility requirements for Medicaid recipients mean that millions of people will lose their Medicaid coverage…
These 446 at-risk hospitals collectively have 68,986 beds and served approximately 6.6 million patients in 2024. They employ approximately 275,458 direct patient care workers (this does not include non-medical workers, such as administrative staff).
Using census data to identify community demographics for each hospital,[5] We found that the communities served by these at-risk hospitals have a larger share of Black and Hispanic residents, as well as people living below the poverty line, than other hospitals… [end quote]
Wendy