A new national report has put Lower Bucks Hospital on a short and sobering list: one of just 12 Pennsylvania hospitals flagged as financially at risk amid ongoing federal Medicaid cuts, writes Bethany Rodgers for Bucks County Courier Times

The designation comes from Public Citizen, a nonprofit advocacy group that analyzed how proposed cuts to Medicaid could ripple through hospitals across the country.

The study’s methodology was direct: any hospital operating on negative margins between 2022 and 2024, and drawing more than one fifth of its revenue from Medicaid or other public funding, earned the “at risk” label.

Lower Bucks Hospital clears that bar. The Bristol facility has navigated financial turbulence before, and it serves communities where Medicaid isn’t a safety net, but a primary route to care.

Nearly 21% of the hospital’s revenue came from medical assistance in 2024 alone, covering everything from emergency visits to inpatient stays to routine treatment.

Hospital representatives pushed back on the alarm last month, saying Lower Bucks Hospital is not facing imminent closures or service cuts.

But advocates aren’t ready to stand down. They argue the real danger isn’t sudden collapse, but the slow impact of rising uncompensated care as more patients lose coverage or put off treatment they can no longer afford.

That concern has already spilled into the streets. Last April, healthcare advocates gathered outside Lower Bucks Hospital to rally against Medicaid reductions, a sign that for many Bucks County residents, this isn’t just a policy debate. It’s a question of whether their local hospital will still be there when they need it.

Learn more about the local impact of ongoing Medicaid cuts in Bucks County Courier Times.

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