Rural Oregon’s Maternity Care Crisis Exposes Federal Medicaid Cuts’ Deadly Toll

On a cold April night in eastern Oregon, Teela Banister’s desperate drive to La Grande hospital turned into a race against time. The closure of her local Baker City hospital's labor and delivery unit — shuttered months before she even knew she was pregnant — meant her newborn arrived in the car, silent and struggling to breathe. This harrowing tableau is not an isolated tragedy but the consequence of a widening rural healthcare crisis fueled by reckless federal Medicaid cuts. Why Are Rural Hospitals Closing Maternity Units? Hospitals like Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City find themselves trapped between...