In a letter dated June 12, U.S. Senator Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) expressing his and other’s concerns that cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act would cause millions to lose their healthcare coverage. The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform identified the states with the highest closure risks as Kansas, Oklahoma and Alabama.
In support of the letter, Markey included a list of at-risk rural hospitals, including 21 in Oklahoma, one of which is Mercy Watonga. This is specifically the hospital, not Mercy Clinic.
Markey and others who signed the letter, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) echoed the warning from the Cecil Sheps Center for Health Care Ser-vices Research at the University of North Carolina. “Sub-stantial cuts to Medicaid or Medicare payments could increase the number of unprofitable rural hospitals and elevate their risk of financial distress,” the researchers wrote. “In response, hospitals may be forced to reduce services, convert to a different type of health care facility or close altogether.”
Mercy Watonga was placed on the Oklahoma at-risk list be-cause it is in the top 10% of Medicaid payer mix of rural hos-pitals in the U.S. It did not meet the second criteria, three consecutive years of negative margins.
Others on the list from Oklahoma include Integris Miami, Blackwell Regional, McAlester Regional, Hillcrest Cushing, Choctaw Memorial, Sequoyah County/City of Sallisaw, In-tegris Grove, Perry Memorial, Wagoner Hospital, Adair Coun-ty, Hillcrest Henryetta, Mercy Tishomingo, Mercy Love County, Mercy Healdton, Cleveland Area Hospital, Carnegie Tri-County, Haskell Regional, Harmon Memorial and Memo-rial Hospital of Texas County.
Oddly enough, the American Society for Health Care Engi-neering named both Mercy Healdton and Tishomingo in its 2025 list of Sustained Performance Award winning hospi-tals.
The package including the Medicare/Medicaid cuts – nick-named the Big, Beautiful Bill – was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4 at an Oval Office ceremony.
The Medicaid cuts were said to reduce fraud and abuse with-in the program, but hospital leaders said it will do more than that.
'At a maximum, I think it hastens the speed that rural hospi-tals predominantly would be under pressure of potentially closing,' Bennett Geister, president of Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City told an Oklahoma City news outlet.
Hospitals are often the biggest source of employment in a community and if one reduces services or is forced to close, those families will relocate in order to find jobs. That would seriously hurt rural economies which are already struggling.
The Oklahoma Hospital Association said the impact to the 3rd Congressional District — represented by Frank Lucas (R-Cheyenne) and in which Watonga lies could come to $66 million in loss-es. It is estimated that up to one in four rural Oklahoma hospitals could be at risk for reductions in services or closure.
The Watonga Republican reached out to Mercy Hospital spokesmen but had not heard back as of press time.