Medicaid cuts expected to strain California hospitals, raising healthcare costs for many

WHEN MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.-HARBOR HOSPITAL CLOSED in 2007, neighboring Los Angeles hospitals struggled to keep up with the influx of new patients. They reported emergency department wait times longer than 11 hours, more trauma cases and more uninsured patients.

The people who felt the strain weren’t just King-Harbor’s former patients; they were also the privately insured patients of those neighboring institutions. Researchers later concluded that King-Harbor’s closure worsened patient care throughout the region, increasing mortality rates and decreasing access.