A warning from the head of the Minnesota Hospital Association.
The state's largest safety net hospital is facing closure, and many smaller hospitals across the state are in financial distress.
The reason? Too many patients on Medicare or Medicaid, and the federal government not compensating the full amount due.
"We also have to buy very expensive drugs and the pharmaceutical companies are really making quite a profit from our hospitals," says Rahul Koranne President and CEO of the Minnesota Hospital Association.
He says they need lawmakers to act now, to create a hospital support pool to keep the doors open. If not? It's bad news.
"I'm very afraid that some of these hospitals will be forced to close, and who is going to lose? It's going to be Minnesotans and Minnesota families, which would be really heartbreaking," says Koranne.
According to the Minnesota Hospital Association, more than 30 hospitals in the state are in financial distress, including the state's premier level one trauma center, Hennepin County Medical Center, which has gone to the state legislature asking for financial support.
Without that, HCMC says they will need to start making plans to close the facility by this summer.
Koranne says rural hospitals are in even worse shape, with many already cutting services, and even closing in some cases.
"And we can't have that because these hospitals provide a very, very important lifeline for those local communities and our patients," Koranne adds.
They are asking lawmakers to approve the creation of a hospital support pool immediately, saying The federal reconciliation law (H.R. 1), also known colloquially as President Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill," is projected to cost Minnesota hospitals between $700 million and $1.5 billion in annual net revenue once fully implemented. That totals $6 billion to $10 billion over the coming decade. At the state level, hospitals face an additional $320 million to $580 million in annual Medicaid financing shortfall.
A new analysis released by Kaiser Family Foundation said the number of Americans without health insurance rose by more than 1.3 million in 2024, reaching 26.7 million people — the first increase in the uninsured rate since 2019, and that is making the situation even worse.
“Every person who loses coverage is a patient who will still need care — but will arrive at our hospitals sicker and without the ability to pay,” said Koranne. “This KFF report is a warning. The wave of coverage loss heading toward our hospitals will accelerate a crisis that is already breaking the system.”
The national uninsured rate for people under age 65 climbed from 9.5% to 9.8%, driven primarily by a decline in Medicaid coverage following the end of pandemic-era continuous enrollment protections.
In Minnesota, the uninsured rate increased by 1.5% between 2023 and 2024, the 6th highest increase in the country.
They also say the picture is about to get dramatically worse. The Congressional Budget Office projects that over 14 million additional people will lose coverage by 2034 due to changes to Medicaid and the ACA Marketplace included in the 2025 reconciliation law and the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits.
The KFF data shows that over 80% of uninsured Americans are in low-income working families, nearly four in ten delay or forgo needed medical care due to cost, and 62% carry health care debt.
