In Port Townsend, Murray Tours Jefferson Healthcare and Reiterates Need to Repeal GOP Health Care Cuts, Expand Health Care Access

***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE *** Port Townsend, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), toured Jefferson Healthcare and discussed the new challenges health care providers are facing over a year after Republicans passed the largest health care cuts in history in their Big Ugly Bill. Throughout the tour, Senator Murray heard from providers about the impact of the Republicans’ cuts to Medicaid and their failure to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits—causing massive premium hikes for families in Washington state. The Republican reconciliation bill, which was signed into law in July 2025, cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA over the next 10 years and will make health care more expensive and harder to access. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that Republicans’ health care cuts will terminate health insurance for roughly 15 million Americans nationwide. “Republicans passed the largest cuts to health care in history and have singlehandedly created a national health care crisis. Meanwhile, providers are left to wonder how they will keep their staff paid and their doors open,” said Senator Murray. “Providers are doing incredible work, but they’re being asked to do a more with a whole lot less. If that weren’t damaging enough, Republicans refused to extend the health care tax credits—which millions of people relied on to afford health coverage. The fallout from that has been devastating. Families saw their premiums double, triple, or even worse. When families in Jefferson County can’t afford coverage, they don’t get less sick—they just end up in emergency rooms where hospitals eat the cost and everyone else foots the bill. Congress needs to repeal Trump’s cuts to health care—getting there won’t be easy, but we must fight hard and make sure all Americans understand the harm these cuts are doing.” ABOUT TRUMP’S MEDICAID CUTS: Nationwide, the Republican health care cuts represent a more than $400 billion hit to America’s hospitals—with one estimate finding that over 170 rural hospitals will likely be forced to close or scale back their services, which will force more Americans to travel further for maternity care and emergency room visits, and face longer wait times. Washington state is one of the states most at-risk, with 22 hospitals at-risk of closing or reducing services. An estimated 477,000 health workers will lose their jobs as a result of the Republican cuts to Medicaid. Senator Murray has consistently advocated for rural health care access across the state, hosting numerous events to emphasize the importance of investment into rural communities. Hospitals in Washington state could lose at least $662 million in Medicaid revenue every year under the One Big Beautiful Act (OBBBA)—forcing hospitals to lay off staff, cut services, or close their doors entirely. Overall, Washington state is expected to lose between $31 billion and $51 billion in federal Medicaid dollars over the next decade. In 2024, Washington had an uninsured rate of 4.8 percent—the lowest in the country—but the Republican bill is expected to balloon that number into the double digits. In Washington state, nearly 2 million people— roughly 1 in 5 —are enrolled in Apple Health, the state’s Medicaid program. Washington’s 4 th Congressional District has the highest Medicaid enrollment in Washington state, with nearly 300,000 people— 38 percent of all residents —reliant on Apple Health, including 70 percent of all children in the state. ABOUT GOP REFUSAL TO EXTEND ACA TAX CREDITS: Senator Murray forced the issue of the ACA tax credits at every opportunity before Republicans ultimately refused to take any action, speaking out nonstop about the urgent need to save health care and calling on Republicans to come to the negotiating table to work out a bipartisan deal to extend the ACA tax credits. She took to the Senate floor in November 2025 with her Democratic colleagues to call for a clean one-year extension of the ACA tax credits, and held numerous virtual press conferences with Washingtonians, as well as residents of neighboring states Idaho and Montana , about the exploding health care premiums that Americans would see due to the expiration of the tax credits. As the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray led legislation supported by the Democratic caucus that would have addressed the health care crisis during the government shutdown last fall. Senator Murray has also cosponsored multiple pieces of legislation over the past year—the Health Care Affordability Act and the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act —that would make the ACA tax credits permanent. As then-chair of the Senate Health Committee, Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the ACA enhanced premium tax credits into law in the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. ###