Rural nursing homes and hospitals are at risk of shutting down as a result of Medicaid cuts outlined in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

At a regional level, Northwest Pennsylvania residents may find themselves driving further for care, with 15 nursing homes and five hospitals facing potential closure, according to a report from WCPT 820 Radio serving the area. Rural facilities rely more on reimbursements from the Medicaid program to operate, compared to other regions.

As it is, this rural area of the state is already seeing an increased number of patients with chronic health conditions and low access to transportation, the article found.

PA Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office estimates that 310,000 residents across the state will lose health insurance coverage due to the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts as part of OBBBA. Potential closures in Northwest PA are located in districts with Republican congresspeople who voted ‘yes’ on the bill.

About 42,000 jobs could be lost in the state’s health care sector too, according to a report from the Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP). Residents, meanwhile, could face homelessness depending on coverage and location, the report found.

HAP estimates that PA will be among the hardest hit in terms of job losses, with the commonwealth ranking fourth in such losses due to Medicaid cuts in OBBBA. Positions weren’t broken down by care setting, instead simply referred to as direct health care workers.

This rural snapshot in PA comes on the heels of a national study conducted at the request of Democratic ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee ahead of the Senate vote on the bill back in June.

Close to 600 nursing homes across the nation are also at risk of closure as a result of the Medicaid cuts, but this study found that urban areas and concentrated states would be disproportionately impacted, in states like Illinois, Texas, California, Georgia, and Ohio.

The Democratic members partnered with Brown University School of Public Health to study a decade of data between 2011 and 2023. Nursing homes flagged as high-risk of closure had more than 85% of residents on Medicaid, occupancy below 80% and a 1- or 2-star quality rating issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).