{"id":426,"date":"2026-07-15T10:39:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:39:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:39:39","slug":"trump-funding-cuts-endangering-city-and-rural-hospitals-alike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426","title":{"rendered":"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

In the year since President Trump stole $1 trillion out of the American health care system to free up funding for mass deportation, tax breaks for his billionaire friends, and, it turns out, illegal wars of aggression, much of the resulting conversation has focused on how the funding cuts would impact rural hospitals and patients. The idea was that most of the harm would hit there, since rural medical providers were already on the brink of collapse across the country.<\/p>\n

Read more The CFTC\u2019s Word Games Legalizing Gambling<\/a><\/p>\n

But from National Nurses United challenges that assumption. Researchers identified 602 financially vulnerable hospitals across 47 states, which together operated with an aggregated deficit of about $10.2 billion. They found that when the full impact of Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act finally hits, the group\u2019s deficit will increase to between $15.4 billion and $17.9 billion. Of this group, 366 are in metropolitan areas, nearly 61 percent, while the rest are in rural or semirural areas.<\/p>\n

The finding is important because it illustrates the nationwide damage Trump\u2019s funding cuts are causing, said National Nurses United Director of Research Dan Johnston. The financially vulnerable hospitals in cities tend to be ones that serve communities of poor and working-class people, whether they be Black, brown, or white, no matter where they live.<\/p>\n

More from Whitney Curry Wimbish<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just a rural problem,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cThis is going on all over.\u201d His research found that California has 67 financially vulnerable hospitals, the most in the country, followed by New York, with 40, and Texas, with 35.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Republican Party also refused to extend Biden-era Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, which caused enrollment for ACA insurance to drop by about 4.2 million people as of February 2026. Insurers that participate in the program jacked prices so high that enrollees faced an average 114 percent increase just to stay with the same plan as the year before; they have proposed a double-digit increase for next year, too, with a median increase of 14 percent for 2027.<\/p>\n

That means that hospitals are caring for a less-insured population at the same time that the federal government is reducing their funding. By 2034, the expected cost for providing uncompensated care will hit $466 billion, America\u2019s Essential Hospitals estimated last month.<\/p>\n

Hospitals, doctors, and other providers are staring down $32.1 billion in lost revenue because of the tax credit expiry, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said.<\/p>\n

And that means that hospitals are sending patients massive bills just when they can\u2019t afford them and even suing them for payments, Johnston and others said. In one recent example of the punitive lengths hospitals will go to, Kansas health care system Stormont Vail Health garnished patients\u2019 wages to recoup fees, despite the fact that they qualified for free care.<\/p>\n

Hospitals are also setting up more barriers for people to get care in the first place, Johnston said. After all, as an FTI Consulting survey found earlier this year, hospital executives no longer list quality of care as the \u201ctop clinical concern,\u201d as they once did. Now, their top concerns are workforce shortages and burnout.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta be really sick to get into a hospital these days,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cThey hold off people as long as they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Rising Momentum for Another Progressive Champion<\/a><\/p>\n

HOSPITALS PLAN THEIR BUDGETS YEARS IN ADVANCE<\/strong>, so when Trump signed the funding cuts into law on July 4, 2025, hospitals all over began making cuts in anticipation of the shortfall. A new requirement to force Medicaid recipients who aren\u2019t disabled to report 80 hours of work a month hits in 2027. Cuts to state funding to cover Medicaid costs start in 2028. But as the Prospect<\/em> has been reporting since the beginning, hospitals are already reducing what they offer and patients are suffering as a result.<\/p>\n

Five hundred and twenty-two hospitals have now closed certain units or shut down entirely. Another 585 hospitals are at risk of doing so. Those figures, from advocacy group Protect Our Care, are just one aspect of the damage the funding cuts have caused across the country, advocates said.<\/p>\n

The services hospitals typically cut first are pediatric, maternity, and psychiatric units as well as home health care, all of which typically do not make hospitals as much money as other divisions, Protect our Care\u2019s Director of Policy Programs Vaishu Jawahar told the Prospect<\/em>. With more cuts on the way, however, more hospitals are converting to emergency-only service centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo big things we\u2019re seeing is that a lot of hospitals, especially rural hospitals, are being forced to convert to emergency-only service centers, basically going from full hospitals with inpatients and beds and cancer centers to just being stand-alone emergency rooms,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The second trend? \u201cWe\u2019re seeing this desperate financial situation being a huge boon to private equity companies to come in and take over,\u201d she said. Private equity executives then typically gut the hospital further and increase prices across the board.<\/p>\n

Researchers and advocates told the Prospect<\/em> that the harm Trump has done to the American medical system will take years to repair. It takes a long time to reopen a closed hospital, and if they\u2019re closed long enough, they have to go through the whole lengthy regulation process over again. But given that the Republicans designed the bill in the hopes of evading responsibility, there is still time to undo some of the damage, Johnston said. The first cuts to Medicaid don\u2019t begin until January, so there is time to roll them back, along with the other cuts that haven\u2019t yet come to pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a way around these cuts before we get to the worst,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can take care of it now when it\u2019s doable, or we can wait until it\u2019s much worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnston noted that the erosion of U.S. health care was already under way when Trump decided to make it much worse. Hospital closures and service cuts were already long-term trends, he said. Reducing services for vulnerable populations has been a 15-year project. He said the fix can\u2019t just be to return to a pre-Trump era, because that would not address the underlying problems preventing people from getting the care they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we just go back to the way it was, that\u2019s not going to be good enough,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, the best thing to do would be to have single-payer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Monitor Amok!<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
\n
\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump’s funding cuts are impacting rural and metropolitan hospitals alike, according to a report that illustrates the nationwide damage the cuts are causing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-social-policy"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike - Frontier Housing Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike - Frontier Housing Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trump's funding cuts are impacting rural and metropolitan hospitals alike, according to a report that illustrates the nationwide damage the cuts are causing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Frontier Housing Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T10:39:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\"},\"headline\":\"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T10:39:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426\"},\"wordCount\":1077,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/feaf33d1a5c0e603d3eb913336913043.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health and Social Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426\",\"name\":\"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike - Frontier Housing Report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/feaf33d1a5c0e603d3eb913336913043.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T10:39:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/feaf33d1a5c0e603d3eb913336913043.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/feaf33d1a5c0e603d3eb913336913043.webp\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=426#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Frontier Housing Report\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike - Frontier Housing Report","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike - Frontier Housing Report","og_description":"Trump's funding cuts are impacting rural and metropolitan hospitals alike, according to a report that illustrates the nationwide damage the cuts are causing.","og_url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426","og_site_name":"Frontier Housing Report","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T10:39:39+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247"},"headline":"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike","datePublished":"2026-07-15T10:39:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426"},"wordCount":1077,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/feaf33d1a5c0e603d3eb913336913043.webp","articleSection":["Health and Social Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426","url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426","name":"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike - Frontier Housing Report","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/feaf33d1a5c0e603d3eb913336913043.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-15T10:39:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/feaf33d1a5c0e603d3eb913336913043.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/feaf33d1a5c0e603d3eb913336913043.webp","width":2000,"height":1500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=426#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump Funding Cuts Endangering City and Rural Hospitals Alike"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/","name":"Frontier Housing Report","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com"],"url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}