Medicaid Cuts. Kentucky Hospitals Closing?

According to a recent study from the Sheps Center for Health Service Research at the University of North Carolina(https://www.scribd.com/document/875301285/Letters-on-Rural-Hospitals#from_embed) there are 35 hospitals in rural parts of Kentucky at risk of closure if the Medicaid cuts planned by the US Congress take effect. This is more than any other state! And three of these are within 50 miles of Owensboro: Twin Lakes Medical Center in Leitchfield, Deaconess Henderson, and Baptist Health Deaconess in Madisonville.

Say what you will about all those alleged freeloaders getting healthcare on the taxpayers’ dime, the fact is that everyone needs medical care sometime, and if these facilities do close, people will have to travel farther, will be sicker, and will ultimately have worse outcomes.

And, since federal law and basic morality prevent turning away people who cannot pay, these patients will create further burdens on the remaining hospitals. Longer ER wait times, longer waits for routine appointments, generally worsened health. And a closed hospital means loss of jobs, loss of tax base, generally worsened economic well-being for a whole community.

Granted, the Medicaid system is expensive and far from perfect. Comprehensive reform of the U.S. health care system is sorely needed but very unlikely given the entrenched special interests making billions of dollars from the status quo. In the meantime, why make things worse for everyone? Our politicians need to be held accountable for allowing this situation!