A postcard landed in Eastern Washington mailboxes with a shout in big type: "BAUMGARTNER CUT YOUR HEALTHCARE." Under that, a line about Ritzville giving up inpatient beds to survive. Then a local jab: “Our Republic community already pays $400,000 in local taxes to Ferry County Hospital. Michael Baumgartner wants you to pay more.”
Nancy ChurchillWho paid for the scare? The fine print says the card was brought to you by eastern Washington residents and paid for by “Together for Working People” from a P.O. box in Seattle — a Seattle based political action committee manipulating elections in Eastern Washington.
The hospital that dropped inpatient beds is not in Republic. Ferry County Memorial Hospital is still a Critical Access Hospital. It is a 25-bed hospital with an emergency room, general medicine beds, and two cardiac and intensive care beds. Washington has one rural emergency hospital. It is not in Ferry County.
Ritzville's trouble started at home
The postcard points at East Adams Rural Healthcare in Ritzville and treats the loss of inpatient beds as proof that Congress cut care.
In late 2025, that hospital faced a severe financial crisis. Leaders found $13.4 million in hidden losses from 2022 to 2024. The cause was administrative mismanagement and concealed audits. The CEO was terminated. More than 100 employees were laid off. A WARN notice in November 2025 warned of possible closure or bankruptcy by January 7, 2026.
Read the dates. Those hidden losses ran from 2022 to 2024. That debt was on the books before this Congress and before President Trump's second term. A corrupt CEO and near bankruptcy is not the same as a vote in Washington, D.C.
To avoid collapse, the hospital took a $2 million grant from the Washington State Hospital Distressed Fund. It reclassified from a Critical Access Hospital to a Rural Emergency Hospital. Federal approval came in April 2026. The new designation raises Medicare reimbursement. It also requires the end of inpatient care and swing beds.
That was the trade the local board made to stay open. By early 2026 the hospital was back in the black. It ended 2025 with $190,000 in reserves and kept a reduced primary care clinic.
The tax gimmick they do not want you to see
Progressive states found a loophole in Medicaid policy. They began taxing hospitals and medical providers at inflated rates. Federal matching rules then sent money back to cover that tax. The higher the state tax, the more Washington, D.C., paid. Federal rules already said those taxes must be broad-based, uniform, and not simply recycled back to providers. A safe harbor approved taxes up to 6 percent of net patient revenue.
The Working Families Tax Cut Act freezes that tactic. No new provider taxes. No increases. In Medicaid expansion states, including Washington, the safe-harbor cap steps down from 6 percent to 3.5 percent between 2028 and 2032. Nursing homes and intermediate care facilities are accepted. The phase-down runs over years, not overnight.
Olympia was gaming the system. The postcard sponsors are not concerned about rural health care. They are mad they got caught and mad the grift is ending.
Money on the way
The Working Families Tax Cut Act also created the Rural Health Transformation Program. That is $10 billion a year from 2026 through 2030, $50 billion in all. States file plans. Money follows rural population and the number of facilities. Uses include access, workforce, technology, and hospital stability.
Washington applied and is receiving $181 million. According to the Baumgartner campaign, the congressman was briefed by the state. The money is on the way to rural hospitals in the district. Most are expected to receive roughly half a million dollars.
The mailer says Rep. Baumgartner cut rural care. The statute he voted for is sending rural health care money here now.
What the record shows
Rep. Baumgartner’s rural health work did not start with one bill.
He has backed the CONNECT for Health Act, H.R. 4206, so seniors and rural families can see a clinician without an hours-long drive. He is a cosponsor of H.R. 1585, the Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act. Each state can place 30 foreign doctors a year in shortage areas. Washington has used that program every year, and many of those doctors have gone to Eastern Washington.
He has supported the Volunteer Transportation Network, neighbor rides that get veterans to appointments when winter roads would keep them home. In 2026 he received the National Association of Community Health Centers Distinguished Community Health Advocate Award. He secured $2 million for the Chewelah Expansion and Workforce Development Center at NEW Health, and $1 million for the Clarkston Family Medicine Residency Project at TriState Health.
The Working Families Tax Cut Act also blocked what the Baumgartner campaign calls the largest tax increase in history. It cut taxes on tips and overtime, eased the Social Security tax bite for many seniors, protected the child tax credit, and grants $1,000 for babies born from 2025 through 2028.
Judge the record, not the mailer
A desperate campaign needs a scare. This one picked a hospital crisis that began before the Congressman took office, had losses hidden for years, then pasted the congressman's name on it. A Seattle PAC paid for the card. The law the mailer hates freezes a progressive tax gimmick and actually sends Washington state $181 million for rural care.
You can believe the postcard. Or you can read the dates, the Working Families Tax Cut, and track the incoming support for rural health care. For the 5th Congressional District, the record points one way. Vote Michael Baumgartner.
Nancy Churchill is a writer, educator, and conservative activist in rural eastern Washington state. She chairs the Ferry County Republican Party and advocates for effective citizen influence through Influencing Olympia Effectively. She may be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own. Dangerous Rhetoric is available on Substack and X.
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