Gluesenkamp Perez Visits Pacific County To Tour Hospital and Discuss Rural Healthcare

PACIFIC COUNTY — Last week, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez visited Pacific County’s Ocean Beach Health, a Critical Access Hospital in Ilwaco. Staff at the hospital gave the Congresswoman a tour of the facility, including a new MRI lab that will be paid for with federal funding that the Congresswoman helped shepherd as a member of the House Appropriations Committee. In total, the hospital will receive $1 million in federal funding to improve its imaging services. Following the tour of the hospital, the Congresswoman joined staff at the newly constructed Long Beach women’s and children’s clinic. The clinic will focus on care for women and young children, with a specific focus on maternal health. 

Ocean Beach Hospital is one of few remaining hospitals serving communities in Pacific County and the only hospital on the Long Beach Peninsula. As a Critical Access Hospital, Ocean Beach Health is more than 15 miles from the next nearest hospital with only secondary road connections between facilities. Hospital staff voiced concerns about how the One Big Beautiful Bill’s cuts to rural healthcare will exacerbate access issues in rural America and hurt patients in Pacific County. Prior to receiving federal funding for MRI equipment, patients were forced to either travel across the Columbia River to Oregon or wait for a mobile MRI unit to be available to get imaging services. 

Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez speaks with hospital staff about the challenges facing rural healthcare

“When you live in a rural community, the nearest hospital might be 20 miles away and there’s a real anxiety there. You have to make tough decisions based on your access to care. People working shift jobs or moms with young kids–we don’t have time to spend three hours or more driving out just to see a doctor or get an MRI,” Said Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez, “Supporting rural healthcare is vital to ensuring people have agency and security in making healthcare decisions and continuing healthcare access. Thank you to Ocean Beach Health for showing me what it takes to open a new health care facility in a critical access area.”

Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez tours the new women and children’s clinic in Long Beach

Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez is working in DC to improve access to quality, reliable health care in Southwest Washington. Over the summer, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez successfully passed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill directing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study pain management improvement strategies for miscarriage–something made worse by health care gaps in coverage and access. This Congress she also passed the Rural Veterans’ Improved Access to Benefits Act, aimed at expanding access to disability exams to veterans living in rural areas.

Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez voted against H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law on July 4, 2025. This law eliminated Medicaid eligibility for roughly 17 million Americans–including 31,000 in Southwest Washington. The bill also terminated the temporary expansion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits, which helped cover health care coverage costs for lower-income households. Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez co-led the Bipartisan Premium Tax Credit Extension Act to extend these tax credits for one year, giving families more time to make these important health care decisions.

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