Medicaid Cuts Could Have Vast Ripple Effects in This Rural Colorado Community

In southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley, clouds billow above the towering mountains of the Sangre de Cristo range. A chorus of blackbirds whistle as they flit among the reeds of a wildlife refuge. Big, circular fields of crops, interspersed with native shrubs, give it a feel of bucolic quiet.

But amid the stark beauty in one of the state’s most productive agricultural regions, there was a sense of unease among the community’s leaders as Congress debated a budget bill that could radically reshape Medicaid, the government health program for low-income people.

“I’m trying to be worried and optimistic,” said Konnie Martin, CEO of San Luis Valley Health in Alamosa, Colorado, the hub for health care services for 50,000 people in six rural counties.

Martin said Medicaid is vital to rural health care.

“I think in Colorado right now, nearly 70% of rural hospitals are operating in a negative margin,” in the red, Martin said.

The health system’s annual budget is $140 million, and Medicaid revenue makes up nearly a third of that, according to Shane Mortensen, chief financial officer for SLV Health.

The operating margin is razor-thin, so federal cuts to Medicaid could force difficult cuts at SLV. “It will be devastating to us,” Mortensen said.

The region is one of the state’s poorest. In Alamosa County, 2 in 5 residents are enrolled in Health First Colorado, the state’s Medicaid program.

It’s a lifeline, especially for people who wouldn’t otherwise have easy access to health care. That includes low-income seniors who need supplemental coverage in addition to Medicare, and people of all ages with disabilities.

Envisioning a future with deep Medicaid cutbacks leaves many patients on edge.

“I looked into our insurance and, oh my goodness, it’s just going to take half my check to pay insurance,” said Julianna Mascarenas, a mother of six. She said Medicaid has helped her cover her family for years. Mascarenas works as a counselor treating people with substance use disorders. Her ex-husband farms — potatoes and cattle — for employers that don’t offer health insurance.

Across the state, Medicaid covers 1 in 5 Coloradans, more than a million people.

That includes children in foster care.

“We’ve had 13 kids in and out of our home, six of which have been born here at this hospital with drugs in their system,” foster parent Chance Padilla said, referring to SLV’s flagship hospital in Alamosa.

“Medicaid has played a huge part in just being able to give them the normal life that they deserve,” he said. “These kids require a lot of medical intervention.”

Chris Padilla, Chance’s husband, said: “At one point, we had a preteen that needed to be seen three times a week by a mental health professional. There’s no way that we could have done that without Medicaid.”

Staff and administrators at SLV Health wonder whether federal cuts will make it hard for the system to keep its cancer center running.

“It could be pretty dramatically affected,” said Carmelo Hernandez, SLV’s chief medical officer.

The hospital in Alamosa has its own labor and delivery unit, the type of service that other rural hospitals across the U.S. have struggled to keep open. About 85% of the hospital’s labor and delivery patients are covered by Medicaid, Hernandez said.

“If we don’t have obstetric services here, then where are they going to go?” said Hernandez, whose specialty is obstetrics and gynecology. “They’re going to travel an hour and 20 minutes north to Salida to get health care. Or they can travel to Pueblo, another two-hour drive over a mountain pass.”

Tiffany Martinez, 34, was recently forced to think about that possibility after giving birth to her fourth child.

Her pregnancy was high-risk, requiring twice-a-week ultrasounds and stress tests at the hospital. She’s enrolled in Medicaid.

“Everything down here is low-pay,” Martinez said. “It’s not like we have money to just be able to pay for the doctor. It’s not like we have money to travel often to go to the doctor. So it’s definitely beneficial.”

Providing Health Care — And Jobs

With 750 workers, the health system is the valley’s largest employer. Clint Sowards, a primary care physician, said having less Medicaid funds will make it harder to attract the next generation of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers.

Certain medical specialties might no longer be available, Sowards said. “People will have to leave. They will have to leave the San Luis Valley.”

Kristina Steinberg is a family medicine physician with Valley-Wide Health Systems, a network of small clinics serving thousands in the region. She said Medicaid covers most nursing home residents in the area. “If seniors lost access to Medicaid for long-term care, we would lose some nursing homes,” she said. “They would consolidate.”

Audrey Reich Loy, a licensed social worker and SLV Health’s director of programs, said the system utilizes Medicaid “as sort of the backbone of our infrastructure.”

“It doesn’t just support those that are recipients of Medicaid,” she said. “But as a result of what it brings to our community, it allows us to ensure that we have sort of a safety net of services that we can then expand upon and provide for the entire community.”

Seeking More Efficiency

Republicans in Congress who pushed for the big spending and tax law, which estimates suggest will result in large cuts to Medicaid, say they want to save money and make the government more efficient.

Many in the Alamosa County region voted for Donald Trump. “He’s potentially affecting his voter base pretty dramatically,” Hernandez said.

He said Medicaid cuts could give President Trump’s supporters second thoughts, but he noted that politics is a sensitive topic that he mostly doesn’t discuss with patients.

Sowards said he understands that some people believe the Medicaid system is ailing and costly. But he said he has grave doubts about the proposed cure.

“Losing Medicaid would have drastic repercussions that we can’t foresee,” Sowards said.

Cuts Would Create Ripple Effect

SLV Health’s regional economic impact is more than $100 million a year, with Medicaid accounting for a major part of that, Martin said.

Any Medicaid cuts would hit the health system hard, but they would also affect small businesses and their employees. The region is feeling economic stress from other changes, like recent cuts the Trump administration made to the federal workforce.

The San Luis Valley is home to the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, Great Sand Dunes National Park, and other federally managed lands.

Joe Martinez, president of San Luis Valley Federal Bank, said that recently laid-off federal workers are already coming to banks saying: “‘Can I find a way to get my next two months’ mortgage payments forgiven? Or can we do an extension?’ Or: ‘I lost my job. What can we do to make sure that I don’t lose my vehicle?’”

Ty Coleman, Alamosa’s mayor, traveled to Washington, D.C., in April to talk to Colorado’s congressional delegation. He said his message about Medicaid cuts was straightforward: “It can have a devastating economic impact.” Coleman put together a long list of possible troubles: More chronic disease and higher mortality rates. Longer wait times for care. Medical debt and financial strain on families.

“It’s not just our rural community but the communities, rural communities, across Colorado as well, and the United States,” Coleman said. “And I don’t think people are getting it.”

This article is from a partnership that includes CPR News, NPR and KFF Health News.