New reporting from Wisconsin Public Radio is highlighting how Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil’s Tax Scam could kick tens of thousands of Wisconsinites off their health care and lead to rural hospitals closing – including Mayo Clinic Health System-Oakridge in Osseo in WI-03.
The bill that Van Orden and Steil voted for includes “steep cuts to Medicaid” that jeopardize health care for tens of thousands of people and strip funding from rural hospitals already facing closures.
And all this comes as the Senate weighs making even *more* drastic cuts to Medicaid that Van Orden and Steil are sure to rubber stamp.
DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil voted to cut Medicaid, kick Wisconsinites off their health care, and put rural Wisconsin hospitals at risk of closing. Van Orden and Steil care more about giving handouts to billionaires than doing what’s right for their constituents, and that’s why Wisconsin voters will fire them next November.”
Read more:
Wisconsin Public Radio: Tens of thousands of Wisconsinites could lose health coverage under Trump’s budget bill
- President Donald Trump’s signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, could cause tens of thousands of Wisconsinites to lose Medicaid coverage and put some rural hospitals at risk of closing.
- The Senate version differs from the House version, and the two bills would have to be reconciled. But both version of the bill include steep cuts to Medicaid that could have effects on Wisconsinites.
- By 2034, the American Hospital Association estimates that more than 30,000 people in rural Wisconsin communities would lose Medicaid coverage, and the state’s rural hospitals would lose $607 million under the House-approved version of the bill.
- A letter from Democratic U.S. senators, spearheaded by U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, to GOP leaders in Washington D.C. warned the bill would “have devastating consequences” for rural hospitals. It included a list of 338 “at risk” hospitals across the country that could be forced to close or reduce services, including three in Wisconsin.
- The at-risk hospitals in Wisconsin were:
- Mayo Clinic Health System-Oakridge in Osseo
- Froedtert Holy Family Memorial Hospital in Manitowoc
- Aspirus Stanley Hospital
- Those three facilities were listed because they had “experienced three consecutive years of negative total margin.”
- The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationally the House bill would increase the number of people without health insurance by 10.9 million, because of changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. The CBO’s estimate includes 58,000 people in Wisconsin who could lose either Medicaid or ACA coverage, according to KFF, a health policy nonprofit.
- Even more Americans could lose coverage under the Senate bill. The CBO’s analysis of that version of the legislation found it would leave 11.8 million people uninsured by 2034. It would also add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.
- KFF estimates that 64 percent of people receiving Medicaid were working either full or part time in 2023.
- Rudowitz [director of the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured at KFF] said rural hospitals would be affected by provisions in the bill related to the financing side of Medicaid and from lost reimbursement from individuals who would become uninsured under the bill.
- According to the American Hospital Association, nearly 50 percent of rural births are covered by Medicaid, while almost two-thirds of nursing home residents in rural counties are covered by Medicaid.
- Deliberations over the bill come after one-third of Wisconsin hospitals operated in the red in 2023. Just last year, Hospital Sisters Health System shuttered two western Wisconsin hospitals and a network of clinics. And earlier this year, a ThedaCare hospital in Waupaca closed its birthing unit.
- The three at-risk Wisconsin hospitals listed in Markey’s letter are located in congressional districts represented by Republicans. All Republicans in Wisconsin’s House delegation voted in favor of the version of the megabill that passed the House.
- The Mayo Clinic facility in Osseo is located in U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s district.
