To the editor:
The House GOP’s recently passed budget bill proposes deep Medicaid funding cuts that pose an existential threat to rural hospitals, including those here in Aroostook County. At a time when health care providers are already operating on razor-thin margins, these cuts would impose an unfunded mandate on facilities like Houlton Regional Hospital, forcing them to absorb the cost of care for lower-income patients without adequate federal reimbursement.
Houlton Regional is already on precarious financial footing. For the fiscal year ending in September 2023, the hospital reported an operational deficit exceeding $2.1 million. More troubling, an independent audit commissioned by ProPublica flagged “substantial doubt about this organization’s ability to meet its financial obligations and continue operating for the foreseeable future.” Now, with Medicaid reductions looming, a hospital already at risk will be forced to stretch even fewer resources to meet growing community needs.
This is the very definition of an unfunded mandate — shifting the financial burden of essential healthcare onto already struggling rural providers without offering the necessary support to sustain them. The consequences are stark: reduced services and potential hospital closures. For Aroostook County residents, many of whom already travel significant distances for medical care, this would be catastrophic.
Medicaid cuts are not just a budgetary decision; they are a direct attack on the health and well-being of rural Americans. While working-class families in The County struggle to access care, these cuts will redirect $2.5 trillion in benefits to households making over $228,000 per year. (The median income here is less than $55,000.)
Prioritizing tax breaks for the wealthiest at the expense of essential rural healthcare is unconscionable. We must raise our voices in support of our local hospitals and demand that Congress reconsider these cuts before they permanently weaken our healthcare infrastructure and jeopardize our community’s health.
Kathryn Harnish
Houlton
