Magdalena Carrasco, a former San Jose councilmember, once joined protests against one company’s hold over health care on the East Side. Today she’s helping HCA Healthcare make its most criticized move yet.
Carrasco, who left office in 2022 after serving two terms as East San Jose’s representative, now lobbies city officials and her former colleagues on behalf of HCA , which owns Regional Medical Center — the only hospital in East San Jose. The company plans to cut trauma, stroke and heart attack care at Regional while expanding Good Samaritan Hospital which serves the wealthier West Valley.
The Nashville-based company needed a local face for its interests after poor and uninsured patients rallied their neighborhoods against the plan to reduce services. That’s when HCA lobbyists turned to Carrasco, who spoke with city leaders five times last month for “updates on trauma center, STEMI, and Stroke services transitions” at Regional, city lobbyist reports show .
Carrasco started contacting city officials on HCA’s behalf in July — making unscheduled phone calls to East Side Councilmembers Peter Ortiz and Domingo Candelas on July 18. One week after her initial phone calls, lobbyist reports show Carrasco made another unscheduled call with Ortiz on July 24. Two days later, she made two scheduled meetings — one with Ortiz and another with Brisa Moreno, his deputy chief of staff and director of public policy.