Healthcare workers lay down on the lawn outside St. Rose Hospital in Hayward Thursday, staging a die-in to dramatize what they say is a looming threat to the facility’s survival: federal healthcare funding cuts that have left Alameda Health System facing a $100 million funding gap. The demonstration came weeks before California voters decide the fate of Proposition 40, a one-time wealth tax on billionaires that labor groups are pitching as a lifeline for hospitals like St. Rose.
According to The Mercury News, the die-in drew participation from California Assemblymember Liz Ortega, SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, and Eden Area Indivisible, all urging voters to back the measure on the November ballot. Protesters say they are opposing cuts tied to H.R. 1, the federal law also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, which the outlet reports has stripped about $100 billion from California’s healthcare system and left a $100 million funding gap at Alameda Health System.
Ortega, who helped lead the 2024 push with Aisha Wahab to get Alameda Health System to acquire St. Rose, told the outlet that the stakes of inaction are severe, warning that children may lose access to care and mothers may die giving birth. The assemblymember authored Assembly Bill 2271, which helped raise awareness and rally support for the acquisition, according to the Official Website of Assemblymember Liz Ortega, which notes St. Rose was facing imminent closure before the state-backed transfer.
A Hospital Already Stretched Thin
The rescue of St. Rose did not end its financial troubles. Alameda Health System began its 2024-2025 fiscal year facing a $100 million operating budget gap, roughly 7% of its $1.4 billion budget, according to Alameda Health System Board of Trustees meeting records…