Policy experts and rural hospital leaders across Missouri are anticipating significant budget cuts and facility closures due to the estimated $23 billion in Medicaid cuts to Missouri included in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB).
In an interview with The Beacon, Sheldon Weisgrau, vice president of health policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health, warned that many of Missouri’s 67 rural hospitals already “operate on the financial edge” and could be pushed to the brink under the OBBB. Estimates suggest that up to 170,000 Missourians could lose Medicaid coverage over the next decade, contributing to overcrowded emergency departments and increasing the burden of uncompensated care.
More about the impact of Medicaid cuts on Missouri’s rural hospitals is included below:
- “As people delay treatment for their health conditions due to a lack of insurance, they’ll start relying more on the emergency room as their primary form of health care, experts say. That will lead to more crowded emergency departments.”
- “Moreover, the burden to pay for uninsured patients will shift onto the hospitals that provide the care, and eventually back to patients.”
- “For rural Missourians, even those who aren’t on Medicaid, it means the types of health care available to them in the form of obstetric units, primary care providers or specialty providers could be changing. Or their nearby hospital could be gone altogether.”
- “‘We are likely going to see rural hospital closures,’ said Sheldon Weisgrau, the vice president of health policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health, in a press briefing. ‘We have not had any rural hospitals close since we expanded the Medicaid program,’ he said. ‘We are likely to see rural hospitals close because they operate on the financial edge.’”
- “Mercy, which is based in the St. Louis area, operates 112 hospitals and emergency rooms across Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas… Five years from now, they estimate, they’ll lose $300 million in revenue annually. ‘That’s going to mean we’re going to have to radically look at how we deliver care differently — that is still responsive to our communities,’ said Cheryl Matejka, the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Mercy. ‘It’s going to be different for us to survive and thrive.’”
- “‘Health care providers are big employers,’ Weisgrau said. ‘They are big users of local supplies and commodities. All of that will have to be reduced. People will lose jobs. Economies will decline as a result of these cuts.’”
Policymakers must take steps to protect rural hospitals and the patients and communities who rely on them from the consequences resulting from the unprecedented funding cuts to the Medicaid program. For more information on Medicaid’s vital role, visit https://modernmedicaid.org.