Geisinger Community Medical Center Relies on Medicaid Funding

March 11, 2026

Scranton, PENNSYLVANIA — Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) and Affordable Pennsylvania handed out free coffee to health care workers outside of Geisinger Community Medical Center, where people had the opportunity to sign onto the Healthcare Bill of Rights and urge Congressman Rob Bresnahan to reverse his Medicaid cuts and restore critical health care tax credits.

"We already see our most vulnerable community members delaying care due to transport and access issues," says Kali Gargone, RN, a Geisinger Community Medical Center nurse, Membership Chair of the Northeast Pennsylvania Nurses Association, and a PASNAP Executive Board Member. "These delays cause our patients to come in sicker, stay longer, and increase their risk for poor outcomes. In addition to putting additional strain on a hospital that already functions over capacity. The caregivers here will continue to tirelessly serve our community, but we fear the fallout from these devastating cuts."

“I’ve spent the last 30 years providing care to the NEPA community. I’ve seen what it’s like when hospitals are stretched to the brink. I know how critical Medicaid is to my patients and these hospitals,” said Jennifer, RN of Dalton. “Congressman Bresnahan voted to gut Medicaid for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians to give tax breaks to billionaires. Helping the rich get richer while his constituents suffer the consequences. He’s supposed to be working for us. Rep. Bresnahan needs to reverse his health care cuts and fight for his constituents, not billionaires.”

Medicaid provides health coverage to almost 3 million Pennsylvanians. Over 200,000 Pennsylvanians in PA-08 rely on Medicaid. Last summer, Rep. Bresnahan voted to cut the program by over $900 billion to pay for bigger tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. These cuts will rip care away from hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians, threaten 60,000 health care jobs across the Commonwealth, and put local hospitals, including Geisinger CMC, at risk of closure. PASNAP represents more than 11,000 frontline nurses and allied professionals across Pennsylvania, including the nurses, techs, and health care professionals at Geisinger CMC.

Rep. Bresnahan also failed to extend critical health care tax credits that benefit 25,000 of his constituents before they expired, raising Pennie costs by an average of 102% across Pennsylvania and 84% for his own constituents.

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