Fourteen rural hospitals in Washington state are at risk of losing services or closing altogether if proposed federal health care cuts are approved, according to a letter from U.S. Senate Democrats.
In a June 12 letter to Republican leaders, including President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sens. Edward Markey, Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, and Chuck Schumer warned that a House-passed reconciliation package would slash funding for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act by more than $1 trillion.
The cuts would also trigger more than $500 billion in Medicare reductions.
According to data from the University of North Carolina’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, 338 rural hospitals nationwide could be severely impacted—either by losing critical funding, having to convert to smaller facilities, or shutting down altogether.
The report identified 14 at-risk hospitals in Washington state.
Hospitals were considered at risk if they served a disproportionately high number of Medicaid patients or had three consecutive years of financial losses.
The Sheps Center did not publicly release individual hospital names for all states, but a list included in the letter identified several Washington facilities that met these criteria.
They include:
- Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake
- Toppenish Community Hospital
- Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma
- Odessa Memorial Hospital
- Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee
- Prosser Memorial Health
- Klickitat Valley Health
- Othello Community Hospital
- Three Rivers Hospital in Brewster
- Forks Community Hospital
- Mid-Valley Hospital in Omak
- Astria Sunnyside Hospital
- Mason General Hospital in Shelton
- Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chewelah
All 14 are rural hospitals that serve some of the state’s most medically underserved areas.
Many are also among the largest employers in their respective communities.
“Faced with additional cuts to their revenue, many rural hospitals may be forced to stop providing certain services, including obstetric, mental health, and emergency room care, may have to convert to clinics or standalone emergency centers, or close altogether,” the senators wrote.
The letter cites concerns raised in a June 2025 Kaiser Family Foundation poll showing that a majority of rural Americans fear cuts to Medicaid and ACA programs will harm their local hospitals and health care providers.
Between 2017 and 2023, 50 rural hospitals across the U.S. shut down.
The senators argue that the proposed cuts will only accelerate that trend, particularly in rural states where hospitals are already operating on narrow financial margins.
In Washington, several of the hospitals identified as at-risk serve areas where Medicaid patients make up a significant share of the hospital’s payer mix, leaving those facilities particularly vulnerable to reimbursement cuts.
Others have reported financial losses for three or more years, putting them at even higher risk.
The senators urged Republicans to reconsider the proposed legislation, arguing that the potential health care crisis in rural areas isn’t worth the trade-off for what they described as “billionaire tax breaks.”
WA GOP Chairman Jim Walsh responded in a op-ed for The Chronicle, titled, “Cutting through Democrats’ hysterical rhetoric on Medicaid program.”
“One left-wing group released a fictional ‘report’ — cited in an article published by The Chronicle — that predicts specific hospitals in Washington will close if Medicaid is reformed. I called the executives at several of these hospitals: the ‘report’ is baseless, and they aren’t closing," Walsh wrote.
“Getting back to the point is the greatest impact to us, here in this Washington: The extension of Apple Health benefits to able-bodied young people and illegal aliens has stressed the program to the brink of insolvency. The Medicaid reforms in the BBB refocus Apple Health benefits back to the original groups they were intended to help. There may be some adjustment pains as the reforms take place but, in time, the reforms will make Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals stronger and more sustainable.”
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