New York State Senator Chuck Schumer visited Sullivan County on Thursday to announce new legislation aimed at reversing President Trump’s Medicaid cuts. Standing at the entrance of the Garnet Health Medical Center – Catskills Harris campus, Senator Schumer said enough is enough.
“The fallout is just starting here in the Hudson Valley and it paints a dark picture: longer wait times, higher healthcare costs, reduced medical services, layoffs, or even closures, which our rural hospitals are especially vulnerable to,” said Schumer.
Schumer stood side by side with local and state lawmakers Assemblymember Paula Kay and Sullivan County Legislature Chair Nadia Rajsz, community leaders, and Garnet Health’s leadership team. He said there’s only one reason for Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill: tax breaks for billionaires.
“They don’t need a tax break when a mother with cancer might not be able to get the treatment that her child needs,” said Schumer.
His new legislation called the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act proposes to repeal all healthcare cuts outlined in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill and permanently extend the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits that are set to expire at the end of 2025. The entire Democratic caucus has signed on to co-sponsor the legislation.
Approximately 150,000 people could lose healthcare coverage and 7,000 workers could lose their jobs in the mid-Hudson valley regions alone as a result of the cuts, says Schumer. The average monthly healthcare cost for a couple could jump more than $228 due to the elimination of enhanced tax credits, according to new data from Governor Kathy Hochul. He urged the public to contact their Republican lawmakers to support the new bill.
Jerry Dunlavey, CEO of Garnet Health Medical Center – Catskills, told Radio Catskill he’s hopeful that the proposed legislation would provide Sullivan County hospitals with much needed relief.
“If we can get this groundswell of community support, perhaps we could reverse all or part of these cuts,” said Dunlavey. Garnet Health provides healthcare to approximately 500,000 residents in Orange, Sullivan, and Ulster counties.
In rural counties, no plan B
Rural hospitals have long cited navigating financial challenges, staffing shortages, and limited resources. In June, Garnet Health laid off 42 employees and closed two outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation and diabetes education services. Dunlavey told Radio Catskill that while Garnet Health provided excellent care, the services became unsustainable to operate.
More than half of the state’s 50 rural hospitals were already at risk of closure even before Trump’s tax cut and spending bill passed, according to data from the Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.
Garnet Health’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pamela Murphy said that Medicaid cuts would mean patients would be forced to make difficult decisions about their care.
“These often lead to really hard choices. Am I gonna put food on the table or am I gonna get my prescription filled?” said Murphy. “We need follow-up care. We need continued care. We need preventative help.”
Sullivan County District 5 Legislator and Legislature’s Health & Human Services Committee Chair Catherine Scott said in a press statement that Medicaid cuts would create a healthcare crisis in the county. For many residents, Garnet Health’s Harris hospital emergency room is their only access to primary care.
“If we lose our local hospital, 10% of our residents will be left outside the critical ‘golden hour’—the window in which trauma patients have the highest chance of survival with timely treatment,” stated Scott. Sullivan County District 2 Legislator and Legislature Chair Nadia Rajsz said she and her democratic legislators would do “everything [they] can to support Garnet in their stability and being open.”
Community leaders from disability advocacy nonprofit The Center for Discovery and healthcare union SEIU 1199 spoke to navigating the devastating toll the cuts would have on the communities they serve.
Dr. Theresa Hamlin, CEO and President of The Center for Discovery, said 63 percent of its $155 million organizational budget comes from Medicaid. The Center for Discovery is also the largest employer in Sullivan County with 1,800 staff members.
“If these cuts go through as dictated, programs will shrink, care will disappear, and people will have nowhere else to go. And in rural counties like ours, there is no plan B,” said Hamlin.
Senator Schumer said he plans to introduce the bill as soon as Democrats return to session after Labor Day, and that if it passes, it would “very quick[ly]” repeal Medicaid cuts.
Image: New York Senator Chuck Schumer at an August 14 press conference at Garnet Health Medical Center Catskills – Harris Campus in Harris, N.Y. (Photo Credit: Kimberly Izar)