A town hall is planned for this week in Dowagiac for residents to learn more about the possible effects of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” the federal spending bill signed by President Donald Trump last month.
Naomi Ludman with the Coalition for Democracy tells us on hand for the event will be Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel and Dowagiac Mayor Don Lyons. Organizers are concerned about how federal spending cuts will affect access to healthcare.
“It’s clear, it’s not even a partisan thing to say what it’s going to do,” Ludman said. “It’s designed to reduce the number of people that are on Medicare, and it’s designed to reduce the number of people that will be able to get insurance through the ACA, or Obamacare.”
Ludman says she’s heard from people across the political spectrum opposed to some of the cuts in the spending bill. She says it threatens Beacon Dowagiac, formerly Borgess Lee Hospital.
“The hospital in Dowagiac is one of three hospitals in the state that are likely to close because of the high percentage of Medicaid patients that the hospital in Dowagiac sees.”
According to MLive, a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill included the Dowagiac hospital on its list of hospitals at a “disproportionate risk of closing” as a result of the federal cuts. It was one of three in Michigan and about 100 nationwide.
The town hall will be this Wednesday in the Community Room of the James Snow Building on Front Street in Dowagiac starting at 6 p.m.
Ludman says organizers of the event have invited Congressman Tim Walberg, but he can’t make it. Questions from those in attendance will be sent to his office.
