14 rural WA hospitals deemed at risk of closure from Medicaid cuts

Julia Barcott, a registered nurse for Astria Toppenish Hospital in the lower Yakima Valley and former vice-president of the Washington State Nurses Association board, remembers working in emergency departments prior to the Affordable Care Act. There were often multi-hour waits, she said, and the issues were often more acute because the patient was uninsured and hadn’t gotten preventive care.

“What does that say about us as a nation when the most vulnerable don’t have health care?” Barcott said. “It’s a bigger divide of the ‘have’ and ‘have-nots.’”