ADRIAN — Three rural Michigan hospitals are at a “disproportionate risk of closing,” due to the effects of the Big Beautiful Bill that was recently signed by President Donald Trump.
At the request of federal lawmakers, researchers in North Carolina identified more than 300 U.S. hospitals at risk of closing their doors if they lose significant federal funding from Medicaid cuts.
The three hospitals that were determined to be most at risk are McLaren Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant, Sparrow Carson Hospital in Carson City, and Ascension Borgess-Lee Hospital in Dowagiac.
According to the documents released by the lawmakers, a rural hospital is labeled as at risk if the hospital is in the top 10% Medicaid payer mix of rural hospitals across the country, and/or the hospital has experienced three consecutive years of negative total margin.
The list also included the Aspirus Ontonagon Hospital in the Upper Peninsula, which closed in April 2024.
The bill, now signed into law, is projected to cut $1 trillion mostly from Medicaid and Affordable Care Act insurance plans and eliminate insurance coverage for 11.8 million people over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Just over 26% of Michigan’s population is enrolled in Medicaid as of October 2024.