50% of California’s rural hospitals operate at a deficit. 22 have cut back or lost critical medical services, and 16 out of our 59 rural hospitals are at risk of closure. According to Becker’s Hospital Review, 700 hospitals, one-third of our nation’s rural hospitals, are at risk of closing due to “severe financial challenges.”
In her article “Improved Medicare for All Will Save Our Rural Hospitals,” published in CommonDreams, Kay Tillow reveals the extent of this problem and explains how single payer will prevent these closures and allow our patients to get timely emergency and maternal care. Read this sobering account here.