08/29/2025 | Press release | Archived content
Donald Trump's billionaire-first budget is set to be the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, forcing more than one in four nursing homes to close their doors and putting more than 300 rural hospitals at risk of closure. This will leave residents with no other option but to travel long distances or go without the care they need.
In many states, closures are already underway because of Republicans' passing the devastating Trump budget bill.
The Democratic National Committee spoke to some of the people affected by Trump's actions. The latest video features powerful testimony from Bridgeport, Nebraska, nursing home resident Lisa Reagan, nurse Niki Hill, and nurse-attorney Sarah Lash on the impact Trump's budget will have on nursing homes, their residents, and their employees.
WATCH: Nursing homes across the country are at risk of closing because of Trump's devastating cuts to Medicaid in his billionaire-first budget.
Nurse-attorney Sarah Lash: "Lots of rural nursing homes and assisted living facilities already are on a razor's edge, and this bill pushes them over. These cuts in Medicaid will absolutely just destroy these rural homes, because they won't have income to pay for staff or the building. … It makes me really sad that, when you're old and when you need help, that you are going to be insecure about where you get it, and I think that's heartbreaking. I think that when we don't take care of our most vulnerable populations, and certainly the elderly are, then we are not doing well as a society or country."
Bridgeport, Nebraska nursing home resident Lisa Reagan: "So if they were to do something with this place and put me someplace else, I couldn't take it. … I want to stay here. I came here because of that lady right over there. I love her and her kids. They come and see me. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here."