A Missouri health care worker said she faces an uncertain future after learning the outpatient clinic affiliated with Saint Louis University Hospital where she works will close.

Members of the union rallied in Washington, D.C., last week under the banner “Healthcare Not Hate,” warning Medicaid cuts and other healthcare changes could have devastating effects on communities nationwide.

Zaida Rivas-Padilla, an anesthesia technician and a member of the Service Employees International Union from St. Louis, said her job will transfer from the clinic to the main hospital but the move will dramatically alter her work-life balance. Rivas-Padilla stressed the effects of the healthcare debate are hitting close to home in more ways than one.

“It’s trickling down to the workers who are losing jobs, but also with me being an immigrant, that funding is going towards things like ICE,” Rivas-Padilla pointed out. “Because I’m an immigrant, I’m losing either way.”

The Medicaid changes are part of the budget reconciliation law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, approved by Congress last year. Lawmakers who sponsored the measure said it is designed to reduce federal spending, strengthen border security and crack down on “waste, fraud and abuse” in government healthcare programs.

The legislation remains on hold after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement before the Memorial Day recess.

Missouri has lost at least 21 hospitals since 2014, according to the state’s hospital association. Rivas-Padilla acknowledged some people do not realize how the effects of closures and cuts can ripple through entire workplaces and communities.

“It impacts EDS, which is our housekeeping. It impacts the dietary workers, even though they’re outsourced employees, but they still work in a hospital,” Rivas-Padilla explained. “It’s also everybody that works in the hospital that also supports the hospital.”

Healthcare advocates said hospital closures hit rural communities especially hard, where residents often face longer travel times and fewer health care options. A recent analysis found 29 rural Missouri hospitals are at risk of closure.

Source: Public News Service