{"id":1555,"date":"2025-10-08T15:02:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T19:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainepeoplesalliance.org\/?p=1555"},"modified":"2026-01-30T11:10:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T16:10:03","slug":"maine-patients-and-advocates-fight-to-save-rural-hospitals-as-federal-medicaid-cuts-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainepeoplesalliance.org\/maine-patients-and-advocates-fight-to-save-rural-hospitals-as-federal-medicaid-cuts-loom\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine patients and advocates fight to save rural hospitals as federal Medicaid cuts loom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">October 8, 2025<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In the face of Republican cuts to Medicaid, Mainers around the state canvassed at health care providers at increased or immediate risk of closure.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>View photos and video here: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1tmCmsvR7kCARak_AjjbMnp_RsTtHI2Ub?usp=sharing\"><em>https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1tmCmsvR7kCARak_AjjbMnp_RsTtHI2Ub?usp=sharing<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mainers visited hospitals across the state today, several of which are facing the threat of closure due to Republican cuts to Medicaid, to speak with patients and health care providers about their concerns. These patients and health care workers rely on these hospitals for everyday and lifesaving health care, as well as for employment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carolyn McNamara (she\/her), a provider at B Street Health Center in Lewiston, said, \u201cWe\u2019re really concerned about the Medicaid cuts. We\u2019re in a situation in Maine where a lot of people rely on MaineCare. It&#8217;s a pretty cost effective system to prevent people from ending up in the hospital, prevent people from being out of work, prevent people from having more complicated issues that will cost more money in the future. So, we\u2019re really hoping that things don\u2019t go in that direction so that we can continue to provide preventative care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Republicans in Congress made the decision to brutally cut the programs that give many of us access to health care. Because of those cuts, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jec.senate.gov\/public\/index.cfm\/democrats\/2025\/6\/new-updated-state-by-state-congressional-district-data-on-health-insurance-losses-from-medicaid-aca-cuts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more than 57,000<\/a> Mainers will likely lose their health insurance coverage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jim Parakilas (he\/him), a volunteer with Maine People\u2019s Alliance\u2019s federal issues team, said, \u201cRepublicans in Congress and the White House have created a perfect storm for everyone who uses these facilities: throwing people off MaineCare and making health insurance policies through the ACA marketplace unaffordable closes the doors of hospitals and doctors\u2019 offices to great numbers of Mainers, and denying those federal supports to great numbers of Mainers will mean a number of Maine hospitals closing their doors to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the current Republican budget, Mainers will see their premiums increase an average of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2025\/09\/04\/aca-premiums-to-rise-by-nearly-24-in-maine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nearly 24%<\/a> (4% higher than the national average) on the ACA individual marketplace, which has about 71,000 enrollees in Maine.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The budget could also lead to the closure of several rural hospitals. If this happens, thousands of Mainers will be forced to drive hours to receive care\u2014or worse, go without the care they need and either get sicker or in the worst case, die.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At-risk rural hospitals in the state include Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle and Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital in Ellsworth, <a href=\"https:\/\/mainemorningstar.com\/2025\/08\/22\/report-warns-hospitals-in-aroostook-and-ellsworth-face-imminent-risk-of-closure-due-to-medicaid-cuts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to<\/a> the organization Protect Our Care. The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform <a href=\"https:\/\/ruralhospitals.chqpr.org\/downloads\/Rural_Hospitals_at_Risk_of_Closing.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">identifies<\/a> five rural hospitals at immediate risk of shutting down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Megan Smith (she\/her), a Bangor community organizer with Maine People\u2019s Alliance, spoke with patients and providers at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. She said, \u201cIt is crucial that our members of Congress fight to keep our hospitals open, especially those in rural areas, because Mainers depend on them both for routine, everyday care and for lifesaving treatments. Our communities can\u2019t afford to lose these institutions and our neighbors can\u2019t afford cuts to Medicaid. We are urging our elected officials to stand by the constituents they serve, not Trump and his billionaire friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advocates urged Maine\u2019s members of Congress to fight to ensure that we can all get care\u2014by extending the tax credits that allow many people to buy insurance on the marketplace, restoring Medicaid funding, and making sure our rural hospitals have what they need to stay open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to talking with patients and providers in Bangor and Lewiston, advocates also spoke with people at MaineHealth Stephens Hospital in Norway and Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital in Ellsworth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>####<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>With more than 32,000 members, MPA is the largest community organization in Maine, and one of the largest in the country. We work together on issues that include but are not limited to housing, care, climate change and environmental justice, health care access, racial justice, and immigrant rights. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>####<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contact: Kate Gardner, <a href=\"mailto:kate@mainepeoplesalliance.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">kate@mainepeoplesalliance.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>October 8, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Maine patients and advocates fight to save rural hospitals as federal Medicaid cuts loom - 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