A year after President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), enacting sweeping cuts to social services like SNAP food assistance and Medicaid, an Arizona hospital is closing its doors.
The Tucson Sentinel reported that Select Specialty Hospital – Tucson East, which provides medical needs for things like brain injuries and cardiac conditions, will shutter by September. The 28-bed facility located at 5301 E. Grant Rd. will lay off its 99 employees, too. Displaced patients can transition to nearby alternative facilities, including Select Specialty Hospital – Tucson Northwest, Vista Specialty Hospitals of Tucson, and Banner – University Medical Center Tucson.
Last July, the OBBBA passed with Republican support and cut federal Medicaid spending by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade. Arizona’s Democratic leaders urged Congress against passing the sweeping legislation, while all Arizona Republicans voted for it.
Medicaid compensates hospitals for treating low-income, disabled, and elderly patients, converting what would be uncollectible patient debt into reliable reimbursements from the federal and state government. Without that funding to rely on, advocates warned that the cuts would be a hit to local hospitals, which would have to absorb those costs without federal assistance.
Local criticism
The Tucson hospital is in Congressional District 6, represented by US Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Tucson). Ciscomani had urged senators to oppose Medicaid restrictions before ultimately voting for the cuts.
“Protecting Medicaid is essential for the vulnerable constituents we were elected to represent,” Ciscomani and other lawmakers wrote in a letter at the time. “Therefore, we cannot support a final bill that threatens access to coverage or jeopardizes the stability of our hospitals and providers.”
Multiple reports have flagged the impacts the legislation would have on Arizonans. A report from Protect Our Care, a health care advocacy group, found that nine clinics across the state have closed or announced closure since the bill’s passage. Public Citizen, a progressive think tank, found at least eight Arizona hospitals — including a major Phoenix teaching hospital and HonorHealth’s Tempe Medical Center — at risk of closing or cutting services. Nationally, Protect Our Care’s tracker counts more than 1,100 hospitals, nursing homes and other providers now closing, cutting care or at risk because of the cuts. The Arizona cuts alone threaten health care coverage for more than 365,000 Arizonans.
In a statement to the Tucson Sentinel on July 17, Ciscomani’s Democratic challenger, JoAnna Mendoza — the only Democrat who qualified for July 21’s CD6 primary — criticized Ciscomani for the vote after the hospital announced its closure.
“Juan Ciscomani voted to gut Southern Arizonans’ health care, and now health care clinics across the state are closing,” Mendoza said. “We need a leader in Congress who’s actually going to stand up for us, fight for lower costs and protect our health care.”
