10 Ohio hospitals face risk of closure due to Trump/Republican spending law, analysis shows
Ten safety-net hospitals are at risk of closure in Ohio due to health cuts under a Republican spending law President Donald Trump signed last summer, according to a new analysis.
The law also cut taxes on the richest 1% of Americans by $1 trillion. Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, who voted for it, declined to comment.
Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act cuts nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, and those cuts risk closing 446 safety-net hospitals nationwide, said the report by Public Citizen.
“The cuts will be devastating to many low-income and disabled individuals who rely on Medicaid,” the report said.
“Moreover, they 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.”
Prior to the Trump bill’s passage, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Medicaid cuts and the loss of tax credits in Affordable Care Act marketplaces would cost 16 million Americans their health coverage.
Those people will keep getting sick and hospitals will have to cover at least part of their care. That’s particularly true of their emergency departments, which must take people regardless of their ability to pay.
Since a big part of safety-net hospitals’ mission is to care for Medicaid recipients and the uninsured, it stands to reason that they’ll be hardest hit by the cuts.
The Public Citizen report said that 60% of the at-risk hospitals are in urban areas, while 39% are in rural areas.
In Ohio, the at-risk hospitals are:
- Greene Memorial Hospital in Xenia
- Mary Rutan Hospital in Bellefontaine
- Coshocton Regional Medical Center in Coshocton
- Twin City Hospital in Denison
- Mercy Regional Medical Center in Lorain
- Marymount Hospital in Garfield Heights
- South Pointe Hospital in Warrensville Heights
- Lake Health Beachwood Medical Center in Beechwood
- Euclid Hospital in Euclid
- UH Conneaut Medical Center in Conneaut
Hospitals made the list if 20% or more of their payer mix consisted of Medicaid and other low-income patients — and if they lost money between 2022 and 2024.
“The list of at-risk hospitals is meant to be descriptive rather than predictive; it does not forecast that these hospitals will close, but rather identifies the hospitals most financially at risk from severe Medicaid cuts,” the report said.
Husted’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment on the analysis.
Former Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democrat challenging Husted in November, slammed Husted for his vote to cut Medicaid. He also criticized Husted’s votes not to extend subsidies in Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
“Jon Husted’s record is clear — he voted nine times to jack up premiums for more than half a million Ohioans,” Brown said in an email.
“Working families across Ohio are holding their breath for relief as their premiums skyrocket, and they know it won’t come from Jon Husted. Ohioans deserve a senator that fights to lower costs. Jon Husted has failed them at every turn.”
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