Texas closes 12th rural hospital since 2010, after residents vote down tax district; 58th in U.S.

A rural hospital in Texas closed its doors this morning, in response to residents in Bowie (Best Places map) voting last week against a tax that would have kept the facility open, Stephanie Garland reports for KDFX-3 in Wichita Falls, Texas. Without the tax, Bowie Memorial Hospital officials had warned they would close down within two weeks. The closing will affect 138 hospital employees and 336 jobs in the community.

Bowie is the 12th rural hospital that has closed in the state since 2010, Matt Goodman reports for D Healthcare Daily in Dallas. "It will be the 58th in the country, according to the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. No other state has had more rural closures than Texas; Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee all trail with five total." Texas did not expand Medicaid under federal health reform.