Pa. hospitals lean on immigrants
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About 10% of Pennsylvania's hospital workforce are immigrants, both naturalized citizens and noncitizens, per census data analyzed by KFF.
Why it matters: Pennsylvania's health care industry faces a dual threat: a White House immigration crackdown that could worsen worker shortages, and the "big, beautiful bill," that cuts federal health care spending as our population continues to get older.
Zoom in: It's not just physicians and nurses that are in demand. Immigrants account for a high share of the cleaning and maintenance staff in many hospitals — close to 30%, per KFF.
- "If there aren't enough workers, hospitals may need to limit services," says Scott Hulver, a policy analyst at KFF.
State of play: Hospitals and federally qualified health centers are among the hardest hit by the new federal spending bill, facing significant losses due to Medicaid cuts and changes to the Affordable Care Act, report Axios' Peter Sullivan and Victoria Knight.
- Hundreds of thousands could lose their health insurance in Pennsylvania alone. This will mean more uninsured people and more uncompensated care.
Zoom out: Immigrants make up more than a quarter of hospital workers in states like California, New Jersey and New York, Axios' Emily Peck reports.
- Nationally, immigrants account for 16% of the hospital workforce, roughly matching the share of foreign-born workers in the overall labor force.
The bottom line: Federal spending cuts and stricter immigration policies could intensify Pennsylvania's health care challenges at a pivotal time, leaving patients, providers, and those working to close funding gaps in limbo.