Trump’s Tariffs Will Hurt Rural Healthcare Centers and Medical Suppliers, Experts Warn

Durable medical equipment has long been exempt from trade tariffs, but President Trump’s decision to include medical devices in new tariff policies is sparking concern among healthcare experts, who warn that rural hospitals, clinics, and medical equipment suppliers could face sharp cost increases as a result.
“The overarching concern from all kinds of hospitals, but in particular rural hospitals, is that the tariffs, if implemented fully, could potentially impact both the costs of delivering care and the availability of certain supplies to meet the needs of patients,” said Akin Demehin, vice president of quality and safety policy at the American Hospital Association (AHA).
Demehin said that tariffs could touch a large spectrum of medical equipment.
“We’re talking about things as complex as MRI machines or as simple as masks,” Demehin said.
Rapidly shifting tariff policies have made it difficult to track their full impact, but experts warn that the tariffs could disrupt supply chains, drive up costs, and place added financial strain on hospitals—especially in rural and underserved areas. Increased expenses may also hinder innovation, limit access to care, and worsen treatment delays.
Anticipating Strains in Rural Medical Supply Chains
“Given the important role of our work in making America healthy, we are concerned that tariffs placed on medical and dental equipment threaten to disrupt the supply chain and raise costs for these critical items,” ten healthcare organizations said in an April letter to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “This ultimately places further financial pressure on providers, hospitals, and health systems, particularly those located in rural and medically underserved areas.”
A February 2025 survey of 200 healthcare professionals by Black Book Market Research, a healthcare market research company, found that 82% expected hospital and health system costs to rise by at least 15% within six months due to increased import expenses. Additionally, 90% of supply chain professionals anticipated significant disruptions in procurement and contract negotiations. Among the 21 hospital finance executives surveyed, 90% planned to shift rising costs to insurers and patients through higher service charges. Meanwhile, 84% of payers anticipate increased claims costs driven by higher prices for medical treatments and drugs.
Demehin said independent rural hospitals and clinics face unique challenges due to limited storage space and the short shelf life of critical supplies like IV solutions and medications. While they can collaborate closely with purchasing groups to source efficiently, stockpiling is often constrained, making it harder for smaller centers to navigate price hikes and strained supply chains compared to larger providers.
“Independent rural facilities are continuously working to make their supply chains more resilient,” Demehin said. “Working through both price increases and supply disruptions for smaller facilities can look a bit more complex and in some ways, a little bit more challenging than for other kinds of facilities.”
The AHA said the consequences of these disruptions could be severe.
“Disruption in the availability of these instruments would curtail hospitals’ ability to perform life-saving surgeries and keep patients safe from contagion and greatly reduce our ability to effectively diagnose and monitor patient conditions,” said Richard Pollack, president and chief executive officer of the AHA, in a February letter to President Trump.
Allen Hunt, president of Hart Medical Equipment, a medical supplies company serving Michigan and Ohio, expressed concern about the growing challenges suppliers face in maintaining patient services, especially in rural areas. He highlighted that logistical difficulties and economic pressures—like tariffs and financial uncertainty—are making it harder to provide essential, often unprofitable services that are still crucial to communities.
“I am worried about the ability of not just Hart, but suppliers in general, to continue to provide any level of service at all to these patients, particularly in the rural communities where it’s further away,” Hunt said. “There are some things we will not do for people in some of our farming communities because it’s just too far to drive. If we can do it via UPS, we’ll do that. But some of these products require specialized instruction and training for people to make sure they’re using them right.”
These strains are limiting their ability to offer in-person support for complex products, reducing access for patients who need specialized training. Additionally, financial constraints are making it difficult to retain staff, which further impacts patient care and timely product delivery.
“At the end of the day, if these tariffs hit, you will likely have suppliers that will close. And then a lot of suppliers that are left will shrink their product offerings to only those things that are most profitable,” Hunt said.
Wheelchair Accessibility Is at Stake
Marc Krizack, CEO of RoughRider America, a company that provides all-terrain wheelchairs to people domestically and abroad is experiencing first-hand the uncertainty of tariffs.
Krizack said that rural communities have unique accessibility needs and RoughRiders wheelchairs are designed to offer rural users as much mobility as possible.
“In rural communities, there’s different needs. Some people are farmers and they want to be able to get into their field,” Krizack said. “Or it’s just the road between their house and and their mailbox is all gravel and difficult to cross with standard wheelchairs.”
“Getting around outside the house is a bigger hurdle in rural communities. It requires traveling further distances,” said Dr. Carrie Henning-Smith, co-director of the Rural Health Research Center at the University of Minnesota. “You might not have a walkway from your home. You might not have a sidewalk in front of your home. You might have a lot of land that you’re on or that you’re near and getting around that can be really tricky.”
As supplies run low in his California warehouse, Krizack faces mounting uncertainty and expense due to looming tariffs. RoughRider’s Chinese manufacturer requires a 90-day lead time for production, so Krizack must place orders months in advance, gambling on future costs and navigating an increasingly unpredictable pricing landscape.
“I have to kind of be able to figure out 90 days, plus another three or four weeks for shipping, in advance what’s going to be happening with the tariffs. I have to guess the tariff policy, but I have no idea,” Krizack said. “And the other big problem is, I’m so small that a little change (in tariffs) is significant for me.”
Trump’s sweeping tariffs sparked a trade clash with China, leading to escalating duties on both sides. A May agreement cut U.S. tariffs from 145% to 30% and set a 90-day deadline for a broader deal, with China agreeing to ease key export restrictions.
As of June 2025, the Trump administration said they would impose a total 55% tariff on Chinese imports by combining a 10% baseline tariff, a 20% China-specific duty, and existing 25% tariffs from Trump’s first term.
Krizack said that if he had to move all his manufacturing to the US, his costs would triple, making the wheelchairs prohibitively expensive for customers.
As he faces the uncertainty of the future, Krizack said he is committed to the RoughRider mission but also can only bear so much financial loss.
“I have been involved in this field since 1977 really, and it’s what I’m committed to doing. It’s a good thing to do, and I like to do it,” Krizack said. “But at the same time, it’s got to be worth it. There’s some point at which I don’t want to be a volunteer.”
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