Posted on 11/30/2025 2:13:34 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Glenn Medical Center in Willows closed Oct. 21 after losing “critical access” status for being 3 miles closer to the nearest hospital than rules require.
The closure strips emergency care from a poor farming community, eliminates 150 jobs and puts rural residents at risk of preventable deaths.
Many other California hospitals also face risks of closing because of federal healthcare cuts affecting cash-strapped rural healthcare systems.
These are questions that elected officials and policymakers may soon be confronting in rural communities across California and the nation. Cuts to Medicaid funding and the Affordable Care Act are likely to roll down from Washington and hit small hospitals already teetering on the brink of financial collapse. Even before these cuts hit, a 2022 study found that half of the hospitals in California were operating in the red. Already this fall, Palo Verde Hospital in Blythe filed for bankruptcy and Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine sought emergency funds.
But things could get far worse: A June analysis released by four Democrats in the U.S. Senate found that many more hospitals in California could be at risk of closure in the face of federal healthcare cuts.
“It’s like the beginning of a tidal wave,” said Peggy Wheeler, vice president of policy of the California Hospital Assn. “I’m concerned we will lose a number of rural hospitals, and then the whole system may be at risk.”
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
“...after losing “critical access” status for being 3 miles closer to the nearest hospital...”
What are they complaining about? There is another hospital only a few miles further down the road.
Even with close clinics here the gave me a 7 month wait time for an appointment. AND for more fun, the only clinic that was accepting new patients that accepted the garbage obamacare plans was a three hour one way drive.
YAY GOVERNMENT. We need MORE to fix it for reals this time...
Spot on.
The “Trump country” angle:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/30/politics/trump-one-big-beautiful-bill-rural-healthcare
A hospital? Seriously? How many hospitals have closed and in just California because they could no longer sustain not being paid by the illegals they were forced to serve?
This is CA but alarm bells are ringing in Appalachia and in rural parts of very red states.
46% of the population of Glenn County is on Medi-Cal. No hospital will continue to exist with that patient load
Between 1996 and 2006, 70+ hospitals in California closed. Most were in the LA area. At the time, the talk was that the closures were a result of the hospitals having to treat illegal aliens and losing money as a result. Now it’s just said it was because of financial problems.
Around here large hospitals are buying up small hospitals.
Good question. There are a lot of "conservatives" who complain about government spending but squawk up a storm if their preferred handout is part of any cutback.
Country people are expendable, and they don’t form violent protests.
You and me both. After becoming licensed as an EMT, I’m booking it from Chicago to rural West Virginia.
On a smaller scale, the average cost for dinner at The French Laundry is $900 per person.
The average cost for a doctor visit in California is $175. How many were at that table?
EC
Such as?
To take some of the pressure off the hospitals and doctors.
My wife was throwing up a few years ago and we were not sure if it was something serious or not. We went to an urgent care place so as not to take up a doctor or emergency room's time needlessly. Turned out it was her appendix, but if it had been just the flu, we would have made the emergency room more crowded for no reason.
Almost half of the population is at or below 138% of poverty level? Sounds like the area has some serious problems.
There are people in this thread arguing that the government has an obligation to keep rural hospitals afloat. But if you want an easy public example, try MTG and her call for Obamacare subsidies.
“closing because of federal healthcare cuts affecting cash-strapped rural healthcare systems.”
Yes, let’s blame the government for not paying for the care that is provided to a variety of scofflaws, along with the poor SOB’s that may actually have insurance or a willingness to pay - getting saddled with the “overhead” of the non-payers.
I was going to argue that those are not real conservatives, but I just noticed that in your original post you have the word conservatives in quotes. Hopefully we are on the same side here.
That was how I read it, too, at first, but I think the author explained it poorly. Suppose the rule says you can’t have another hospital within 100 miles but the clinic is 97 miles away. So the clinic is three miles too close to the hospital and must close. Now people have to drive 97 miles farther. You could have been 10 miles from the clinic, but you are 107 miles from the hospital.
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