Maternity wards across the United States face widespread closures following federal Medicaid funding cuts enacted under President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax and policy law. Analysis by Protect Our Care shows 52 maternity units have already closed, with March of Dimes warning that 31 additional rural hospitals are at risk. The legislation cuts $911 billion from Medicaid, imposes new work requirements, and strips coverage from legal immigrants, straining hospital finances and worsening maternal health risks.
Maternity ward closures and risk analysis
- ▪Analysis by non-profit Protect Our Care found that 52 maternity wards in the United States have closed since the HR1 bill was announced in July 2025, with eight more announcing upcoming closures.
- ▪Centra Southside Community Hospital in Virginia and St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital in rural northeast Georgia permanently closed their maternity wards, citing upcoming federal Medicaid changes.
- ▪Non-profit March of Dimes identified 31 at-risk rural hospitals providing labor and delivery services, whose potential closures would leave 96 United States counties without a labor and delivery unit.
HR1 bill and Medicaid spending cuts
- ▪Healthcare research non-profit KFF projected that federal spending on Medicaid will decrease by $911 billion as enrollment restrictions reduce the number of program beneficiaries.
- ▪Congressional Budget Office 2025 estimates project that Medicaid restrictions under President Donald Trump's 2025 tax cut and policy law will leave 7.5 million fewer people insured by 2034.
- ▪The federal HR1 bill mandates new work requirements and frequent eligibility checks for Medicaid recipients while reducing federal Medicaid funding allocations to states.
- ▪Non-profit Protect Our Care reported that $1 trillion in federal Medicaid cuts forces hospitals into financial deficits, leading them to close expensive maternity wards.
Medicaid coverage stripped from legal immigrants
- ▪Healthcare research non-profit KFF estimated that over 281,000 legal immigrants across nine states and Washington, D.C. lost Medicaid coverage on October 1, 2026, including 177,000 in Florida.
- ▪Federal Medicaid policy changes effective October 1, 2026 stripped coverage from legal immigrants, including refugees, asylum seekers, and human trafficking victims.
Community health providers facing overload
- ▪Civil rights organization UnidosUS warned that uninsured individuals losing Medicaid will delay medical care and turn to emergency rooms, increasing financial pressure on hospitals.
- ▪UnidosUS vice president Carmen Feliciano stated that the civil rights group's partner community organizations are already overwhelmed and lack capacity to serve the influx of people losing medical coverage.
Pregnancy and Medicaid enrollment
- ▪Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures indicate the United States maternal mortality rate is 17.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, with Medicaid funding about 40% of births nationwide.
- ▪Research by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health professor Benjamin Sommers found that many women are not enrolled in Medicaid's pregnancy pathway, leaving states unaware that those women are pregnant.
Disruption of maternal health tracking
- ▪In early 2025, the Trump administration placed the entire CDC pregnancy risk assessment monitoring system team on administrative leave, disrupting four decades of maternal health data collection.
- ▪Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health professor Rita Hamad co-authored an upcoming report revealing that shutting down the CDC pregnancy portal leaves researchers unable to study recent maternal health trends.
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