Nurses put Beacon Kalamazoo on RED ALERT over health care cuts

Kalamazoo registered nurses represented by the Michigan Nurses Association and its parent union, National Nurses United, are placing Beacon Kalamazoo Hospital on “RED ALERT” status as they prepare for a community rally on June 13. The event is being organized to press for long-term solutions that would help maintain services at the hospital and to advance the union’s Vision for a Healthy Society.

National Nurses United said the hospital is facing serious financial pressure after the federal budget bill known as H.R. 1 was passed last year. The union said Beacon Kalamazoo receives more than half of its net patient revenue from Medicaid and Medicare, based on NNU’s analysis of Medicare Cost reports and Definitive Healthcare reports. On that basis, NNU estimates the hospital could lose between $9.6 million and $15 million in income each year as a result of H.R. 1 and other federal cuts.

Beacon Kalamazoo registered nurse Cindy Evans said she has invested deeply in the hospital and said it is painful to see it endangered by health care cuts in H.R. 1. In her remarks, Evans condemned what she described as the diversion of health care dollars into tax cuts for billionaires and funding for wars abroad. She said the situation is frightening, but added that she is hopeful because she believes the community will stand together to fight for a better future. Evans said the nurses are not only trying to protect the hospital, but also to win their Vision for a Healthy Society, including Medicare for All and policies that put power back in the hands of working people rather than billionaires.

The June 13 event will be held at Bronson Park in Kalamazoo. Free wellness checks are scheduled from 11 a.m., and free tacos and live music will also be available from 11 a.m. The program and rally are set to begin at 12 p.m. Speakers and guests listed for the event include NNU President and Beacon Kalamazoo RN Jamie Brown, Beacon Kalamazoo RN Cindy Evans, Michigan Nurses Association President Aaron McCormick, RN, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, actor Celia Keenan-Bolger, South-Central Michigan Area Labor Council President Austin Brown, and Bill Farmer, who chairs Michigan For Single Payer Healthcare and co-chairs the Southwest Michigan DSA Medicare for All Working Group.

Musical performances are planned from the Great Lakes Brass Band and The Willrock Brothers.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said the pain felt by the community has been intensified by the health care cuts and billionaire tax breaks included in H.R. 1. He said the rally is about standing up to a system built for profit rather than patients and about fighting for health care centered on dignity, trust, and care for everyone. El-Sayed said it is “nurses and the people vs the billionaires and oligarchs,” and said he is proud to have the endorsement of National Nurses United. He said he will stand with the union at the Red Alert Rally in Kalamazoo, at hospitals across the country at risk of closure, and wherever nurses are fighting for patients.

NNU said Beacon’s patient population is likely to face more difficulty accessing care because nearly 85 percent receive care through Medicaid and Medicare, according to the American Hospital Association Annual Survey. The union said the impact could be compounded by H.R. 1’s planned cut of $186 billion from SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, over the next ten years. NNU added that 14 percent of Kalamazoo County residents face food insecurity.

The union said additional information on Beacon Kalamazoo Hospital’s financial vulnerability and possible impacts to patient care is available through its website. The June 13 event is part of NNU’s RED ALERT tour, which is visiting communities that the union says are facing a drastic reduction in the quantity and quality of health care services because of H.R. 1. NNU described the law as a budget bill that cut more than a trillion dollars from Medicaid and Medicare while giving billionaires tax breaks, militarizing immigration enforcement, and funding wars abroad.

Through the tour, nurses are bringing their Vision for a Healthy Society directly to patients and working-class communities. NNU said the tour has already stopped in Glendale, Oceanside, Alameda, and Oroville in California, as well as Minneapolis, Minnesota. Kalamazoo is the first stop in Michigan. NNU researchers said they have identified more than 600 nonprofit and community hospitals nationwide that are in a similar position to Beacon Kalamazoo.

Jamie Brown, who is both NNU president and a critical care nurse at Beacon Kalamazoo, said nurses reject what she described as the deadly agenda of the billionaire class and their Republican allies. Brown said the union is bringing its vision for a healthy society directly to patients and communities that will bear the impact of Republican policies. She invited people who feel abandoned by the political system to join in building working-class solidarity.

The press release also noted that Senator Bernie Sanders has released tax proposals that NNU strongly endorses. According to the union, those proposals are intended to raise trillions in revenue to help keep hospitals and health services accessible, ultimately guarantee health care for all through Medicare for All, and support a society that meets people’s needs, including affordable housing, education, and unionized living-wage jobs. NNU also pointed to the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, introduced by Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna, which would create a five percent annual wealth tax on billionaires and direct the revenue toward working families. NNU said that plan would help reverse the H.R. 1 Medicaid cuts and expand Medicare to include vision, hearing, and dental.

National Nurses United said it is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States, with more than 225,000 members nationwide. Its affiliates include the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.