According to an email obtained by The Stranger, Seattle Children’s is eliminating approximately 5 percent of its staff over Medicaid cuts.

On July 4, President Donald Trump celebrated Independence Day by  screwing over as many Americans as he could in a penstroke when he signed the Big Beautiful Bill, an enormous piece of tax and spending legislation that could cut Medicaid spending by up to $793 billion dollars over the next ten years.

In an email to staff, Children’s said it cut 155 staffed positions and 350 open jobs from its regional hospital system (a spokesperson later told The Stranger 154 positions, contradicting the initial email). Those employees were told today, and were given access to supportive resources “as they transition from Children’s, including COBRA coverage and severance pay.”

“We are immensely grateful to our colleagues for their contributions and appreciate and honor their lasting impact on Children's mission,” the hospital wrote. “These friends, leaders and coworkers will be incredibly missed.”

In a statement, a Children’s spokesperson said the decisions were “difficult but necessary to secure Children’s future and protect our ability to deliver compassionate care and life-saving research for the patients and families who need us.”

It took this step despite instituting a voluntary retirement program, reducing and restructuring management, pausing many open positions, and other actions, the email read.

Like hospital systems across the country, Children’s expected cuts in the hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years, it wrote.

“This includes reductions in Medicaid funding which supports 50% of our patients and families, the suspension of NIH research funding and key programs like the Safety Net Assessment Program that is only guaranteed through December 2025,” the email read. “For research, the executive actions targeting science, reduced indirect cost recovery rates, federal funding delays and cuts to key programs exacerbated an already challenging fiscal environment.”

The first of those cuts would come in 2026, the hospital wrote. In addition, the hospital wrote it had already restructured teams, and will scale back or discontinue some services.

“This includes delaying expansion plans at four regional sites, stopping expansion of the national employment model, closing playrooms at regional clinics and nearly 20% reductions to administrative system services,” it wrote.