This rural hospital closed, putting lives at risk. Is it the start of a ‘tidal wave’?

Los Angeles Times ^ | November 26, 2025 | Jessica Garrison

[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.”

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Very likely. I meant put the word in italics because I don’t think folks who support that kind of thing are actually conservatives at all.