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Hospitals across America will close if the “Big Beautiful Budget Bill” passes in its current form. Provisions in the bill put our own local hospital, Ascension Borgess Lee, at risk.

The American Hospital Association, the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, and the National Rural Health Association have warned that slashing billions from Medicaid would deal a dangerous blow to rural hospitals. The Sheps Center has identified the hospitals in greatest danger of closing, reducing services, or converting to a different type of facility in the event of Medicaid cuts. There are 338 hospitals on the list, including Ascension Borgess Lee. The reason? Our hospital serves a large number of Medicaid patients.

Let’s remember that this includes elderly and disabled people as well as families with children. It includes working people whose employers do not provide health insurance and who do not earn enough to buy health insurance. We also need to think about the domino effect of losing our hospital. The hospital and the emergency room serve all of us, including those who do have insurance.

Doctors in the ER here have saved my husband’s life twice. An elderly friend of ours in Marcellus fell this past week and came here to get care for his head wound which required staples. He doesn’t drive, which is true for many people in our community, but neighbors drove him here, and we took him home. Without an ER in close proximity, he would have needed an ambulance, delaying care and costing more.

Our hospital also provides employment for many people in the community. We all know the ripple effect on the local economy of large businesses closing. Ameriwood and Rite Aid are just two recent examples.

The Senate and the House of Representatives will soon be working out the differences between the Senate and House bills. It’s time to call Representative Walberg and tell him to vote NO on this bill. Midterm elections are coming and some of us will remember his vote when it’s time to cast our vote.

By Naomi Ludman

Dowagiac