Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, during an appearance at the Garnet Health Medical Center-Catskills in Harris in Sullivan County, warned that people in the Hudson Valley could be hard hit by the cuts to Medicaid and other health care in Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that the president recently signed into law.
Schumer announced that he has proposed new legislation that would repeal the health care cuts and also extend tax credits due to expire at the end of December that have helped people pay premiums for their Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) health insurance. The entire Democratic caucus has signed on to co-sponsor the legislation, according to Schumer.
Schumer noted that 37% of the population in Sullivan County is covered by Medicaid and that because of the spending cuts signed into law by Trump more than 150,000 New Yorkers in the Catskills and Hudson Valley are expected to lose health care.
“We are already seeing the impacts at our rural hospitals, including right here at Garnet Health Medical Center-Catskills, where they have already been forced to reduce vital medical services and lay off staff,” Schumer said. “This is a gut punch to Hudson Valley health care.”
Schumer pointed out that Garnet has cut 42 workers in Sullivan and Orange. In Sullivan County, Garnet’s Catskills campus just-ended outpatient diabetes care. In Orange, at Garnet’s Health Medical Center-Middletown a potential trauma center downgrade would put pressure on county budgets. In Ulster, where rural clinics already run on tight margins, even modest Medicaid cuts could trigger service reductions, Schumer notes.
Schumer was joined by The Center for Discovery CEO Terry Hamlin. The center provides health care and education services for 1,200 children and adults with various medical conditions. It has 1,800 staff members and is the largest employer in Sullivan County.
“The majority of the individuals we serve at The Center for Discovery rely on Medicaid, and 63% of our $155 million operating budget comes from it,” Hamlin said. “These cuts aren’t abstract numbers, they are a direct hit to the lifeline that keeps people alive, keeps families together, and keeps our rural county strong.”
Garnet Health CEO and President Jonathan Schiller said,”These cuts will have devastating consequences for patients and hospitals across New York and especially in Sullivan County. We urge all lawmakers to recognize the real-world impact on access to care and work toward solutions that protect the health of our communities.”
According to Sullivan County Manager Josh Potosek, “These cuts are not saving anyone money — they simply shift more costs to states and counties. What this means is that taxpayers will pay significantly more to provide services which counties like Sullivan are mandated to offer. We’re already wrestling with a potential property tax hike just to cover the increased expenses that will be coming our way in 2026, and we’ve yet to learn what New York state’s reaction will be to the impacts of these federal-level changes.”
