On the Fourth of July 2025, President Donald Trump signed the divisive One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. Amongst the text of the Bill—which makes massive cuts to many government-funded programs—is a $536 billion cut to Medicare programs and a $911 billion cut to Medicaid according to NPR, which will take effect starting in 2025 and continue for the course of a decade. These cuts will drastically worsen the quality, availability, and cost of medical care for millions of Americans, especially those in rural areas.
On average, rural communities rely on Medicare and Medicaid programs more than metropolitan areas, according to a Georgetown University study. According to the study, around 40% of children in rural areas rely on Medicaid, 21.9% of non-elderly adults in rural Maine rely on Medicaid, and 15.8% of elderly adults rely on Medicaid.
Throughout Northern Maine, the healthcare situation is already in a crisis. Since 2020, 50% of labor and delivery (L&D) units in northern Maine have closed according to a WGME 13 article. Three Maine hospitals closed before the Big Beautiful Bill was passed earlier this year, according to the same WGME 13 article. Three more—those being the Manchester Heath Center, Aurora Health Center, and Northern Light Walk-in Clinic—are scheduled to close in the final months of the year, according to a WMTV 8 article. These closures paint a picture of the dire situation in northern Maine. Six hospitals or health centers closing in the span of a few months—not considering the already sparse L&D and mental health care situation—is not a normal occurrence.
People living in northern Maine are reduced to a limited number of choices on how to seek healthcare. They can either drive hours to Bangor or Portland—or in some cases, Boston. They could attend private practices, which may or may not accept insurance. Or they could go without healthcare.
Terrible rural healthcare conditions are not restricted to northern Maine. The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform (CHQPR) conducted a study on the stability of rural health clinics and hospitals in the wake of the Big Beautiful Bill’s passing. The CHQPR reported that the cuts from the Big Beautiful Bill will have an impact on 2,081 rural hospitals throughout the country. Of those, 322 are now at critical risk of closure. Out of the 322 critical-risk hospitals nationwide, five are in the state of Maine. In addition to eleven rural hospitals at risk of closure in Maine, 46% of our rural hospitals are at risk of closure before Big Beautiful Bill cuts begin in December.
In Maine, $66 million will be cut from Medicare—also called Mainecare—due to the Big Beautiful Bill according to a Maine Morning Star article. According to the Joint Senate Economic Committee minority report, the cuts will cause 61,000 Mainers to lose healthcare coverage. In addition to cutting Medicaid by $66 million, the Big Beautiful Bill also stipulates that Medicaid reimbursements be lowered to 100% of the cost of treatment by 2028, leading to upwards of 20% cuts to the budget of rural hospitals according to a Stateline article. Simply put, already struggling rural hospitals, which are already working on deficits, will be unable to keep their doors open.
At UNE, around 23% of our students are Maine residents; however, the university doesn’t release the percentage from specifically northern Maine. To gauge the northern Maine healthcare experience for students, the Bolt spoke with MacKenzie Schors. We asked MacKenzie two questions: How far from your home did you have to go for regular medical care and how far from your home would you have to go to seek emergency care. MacKenzie said she had to travel an hour and a half for regular medical care—such as annual doctor’s appointments or other essential services. Compared to Southern Maine, this is upwards of an hour more for regular medical care. In her response to the second question, MacKenzie highlighted the dire emergency care situation in northern Maine. MacKenzie revealed she did have an emergency capable clinic in her hometown however they were only capable of administering “X-rays and MRIs,” and any “mass emergencies [or surgeries] would have to be bussed or Life Flighted to Bangor,” or in worse-case scenarios, Portland.
Northern Maine faces growing health deserts as Medicaid and Medicare cuts advance through the federal government. Emergency care becomes scare, putting more lives in danger than there would be with adequate funding. However, Medicaid and Medicare cuts will not only effect people who rely on the programs, but everybody, as the quality of hospital care will be reduced for everyone as hospitals scramble to account for their lost budget.
During last month’s government shutdown, Congress battled over extending Medicaid and Medicare subsidies, resulting in insurance rates rising over $800 for Mainers next year.
