Latest news with #ruralhospitals
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Democrats use new tactic to highlight Trump's gutting of Medicaid: billboards in the rural US
The road to four struggling rural hospitals now hosts a political message: 'If this hospital closes, blame Trump.' In a series of black-and-yellow billboards erected near the facilities, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seeks to tell voters in deep red states 'who is responsible for gutting rural healthcare'. 'UNDER TRUMP'S WATCH, STILWELL GENERAL HOSPITAL IS CLOSING ITS DOORS,' one sign screams. The billboards are outside hospitals in Silex, Missouri; Columbus, Indiana; Stilwell, Oklahoma; and Missoula, Montana. The fate of rural hospitals has become a politically contentious issue for Republicans, as historic cuts pushed through by the GOP are expected to come into effect over the next decade. Donald Trump's enormous One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) cut more than $1tn from Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, insuring more than 71 million adults. 'Where the real impact is going to be is on the people who just won't get care,' said Dave Kendall, a senior fellow for health and fiscal policy at Third Way, a center-left advocacy organization. 'That's what used to happen before we had rural hospitals – they just don't get the care because they can't afford it, and they can't get to the hospital.' In response to criticism, Republicans added a $50bn 'rural health transformation fund' just before passage of the OBBBA. The fund is expected to cover about one-third of the losses rural areas will face, and about 70% of the losses for the four hospitals where Democrats now have nearby billboards. The rural health fund provides money through 2030, while the Medicaid cuts are not time-bound. That is already becoming a political football, as Democrats argued in a letter that the money is a 'slush fund' already promised to key Republican Congress members. 'We are alarmed by reports suggesting these taxpayer funds are already promised to Republican members of Congress in exchange for their votes in support of the Big, Ugly Betrayal,' wrote 16 Democratic senators in a letter to Dr Mehmet Oz, Trump's head of Medicare and Medicaid. 'In addition, the vague legislative language creating this fund will seemingly function as your personal fund to be distributed according to your political whims.' Rural hospitals have been under financial strain for more than a decade. Since 2010, 153 rural hospitals have closed or lost the inpatient services which partly define a hospital, according to the University of North Carolina Sheps Center for Health Services Research. 'In states across the country, hospitals are either closing their doors or cutting critical services, and it's Trump's own voters who will suffer the most,' said the DNC chair, Ken Martin, in a statement announcing the billboards. The OBBBA is expected to further exacerbate those financial strains. A recent analysis by the Urban Institute found rural hospitals are likely to see an $87bn loss in the next 10 years. 'We're expecting rural hospitals to close as a result – we've already started to see some hospitals like, 'OK, how are we going to survive?'' said Third Way's Kendall. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion A June analysis by the Sheps Center found that 338 rural hospitals, including dozens in states such as Louisiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma, could close as a result of the OBBBA. There are nearly 1,800 rural hospitals nationally, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a healthcare research non-profit. That perspective was buttressed by the CEO of the National Rural Health Association, Alan Morgan, who in a recent newsletter said 45% of rural hospitals are already operating at a loss. 'When you remove $155bn over the next 10 years, it's going to have an impact,' he said. In the fragmented US healthcare ecosystem, Medicaid is both the largest and poorest payer of healthcare providers. Patients benefit from largely no-cost care, but hospitals complain that Medicaid rates don't pay for the cost of service, making institutions that disproportionately rely on Medicaid less financially stable. In rural areas, benefit-rich employer health insurance is harder to come by; therefore, more hospitals depend on Medicaid. But even though Medicaid pays less than other insurance programs, some payment is still better than none. Trump's OBBBA cut of more than $1tn from the program over the coming decade is expected to result in nearly 12 million people losing coverage. When uninsured people get sick, they are more likely to delay care, more likely to use hospital emergency rooms and more likely to struggle to pay their bills. In turn, the institutions that serve them also suffer. 'This is what Donald Trump does – screw over the people who are counting on him,' said Martin, the DNC chair. 'These new DNC billboards plainly state exactly what is happening to rural hospitals under Donald Trump's watch.'
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Democrats use new tactic to highlight Trump's gutting of Medicaid: billboards in the rural US
The road to four struggling rural hospitals now hosts a political message: 'If this hospital closes, blame Trump.' In a series of black-and-yellow billboards erected near the facilities, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seeks to tell voters in deep red states 'who is responsible for gutting rural healthcare'. 'UNDER TRUMP'S WATCH, STILWELL GENERAL HOSPITAL IS CLOSING ITS DOORS,' one sign screams. The billboards are outside hospitals in Silex, Missouri; Columbus, Indiana; Stilwell, Oklahoma; and Missoula, Montana. The fate of rural hospitals has become a politically contentious issue for Republicans, as historic cuts pushed through by the GOP are expected to come into effect over the next decade. Trump's enormous One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) cut more than $1tn from Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, insuring more than 71 million adults. 'Where the real impact is going to be is on the people who just won't get care,' said Dave Kendall, senior fellow for health and fiscal policy at Third Way, a center-left advocacy organization. 'That's what used to happen before we had rural hospitals – they just don't get the care because they can't afford it, and they can't get to the hospital.' In response to criticism, Republicans added a $50bn 'rural health transformation fund' just before passage of the OBBBA. The fund is expected to cover about one-third of the losses rural areas will face, and about 70% of the losses for the four hospitals where Democrats now have nearby billboards. The rural health fund provides money through 2030, while the Medicaid cuts are not time-bound. That is already becoming a political football, as Democrats argued in a letter that the money is a 'slush fund' already promised to key Republican Congress members. 'We are alarmed by reports suggesting these taxpayer funds are already promised to Republican members of Congress in exchange for their votes in support of the Big, Ugly Betrayal,' wrote 16 Democratic senators in a letter to Dr Mehmet Oz, Trump's head of Medicare and Medicaid. 'In addition, the vague legislative language creating this fund will seemingly function as your personal fund to be distributed according to your political whims.' Rural hospitals have been under financial strain for more than a decade. Since 2010, 153 rural hospitals have closed or lost the inpatient services which partly define a hospital, according to the University of North Carolina Sheps Center for Health Services Research. 'In states across the country, hospitals are either closing their doors or cutting critical services, and it's Trump's own voters who will suffer the most,' said the DNC chair, Ken Martin, in a statement announcing the billboards. The OBBBA is expected to further exacerbate those financial strains. A recent analysis by the Urban Institute found rural hospitals are likely to see an $87bn loss in the next 10 years. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'We're expecting rural hospitals to close as a result – we've already started to see some hospitals like, 'OK, how are we going to survive?'' said Third Way's Kendall. A June analysis by the Sheps Center found that 338 rural hospitals, including dozens in states such as Louisiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma, could close as a result of the OBBBA. There are nearly 1,800 rural hospitals nationally, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a healthcare research non-profit. That perspective was buttressed by the CEO of the National Rural Health Association, Alan Morgan, who in a recent newsletter said 45% of rural hospitals are already operating at a loss. 'When you remove $155bn over the next 10 years, it's going to have an impact,' he said. In the fragmented US healthcare ecosystem, Medicaid is both the largest and poorest payer of healthcare providers. Patients benefit from largely no-cost care, but hospitals complain that Medicaid rates don't pay for the cost of service, making institutions that disproportionately rely on Medicaid less financially stable. In rural areas, benefit-rich employer health insurance is harder to come by; therefore, more hospitals depend on Medicaid. But even though Medicaid pays less than other insurance programs, some payment is still better than none. Trump's OBBBA cut of more than $1tn from the program over the coming decade is expected to result in nearly 12 million people losing coverage. When uninsured people get sick, they are more likely to delay care, more likely to use hospital emergency rooms and more likely to struggle to pay their bills. In turn, the institutions that serve them also suffer. 'This is what Donald Trump does – screw over the people who are counting on him,' said Martin, the DNC chair. 'These new DNC billboards plainly state exactly what is happening to rural hospitals under Donald Trump's watch.'
CTV News
24-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Sask. adding 77 permanent positions to rural hospitals
WATCH: As Wayne Mantyka tells us, help is on the way for those working in rural hospitals across Saskatchewan. The province says help is on the way for rural hospitals across Saskatchewan, with 77 full-time positions being created across 30 communities. The province hopes it will help stabilize the provision of emergency and other services. 'I am pleased that we have the chance to celebrate the ongoing efforts to reduce service disruptions in rural and northern communities and today I am very pleased to announce 77 new and enhanced permanent full-time positions to 30 different rural and northern communities,' Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said on Wednesday. Most of the 77 positions are currently being filled by part-time and temporary staff, but it's difficult to retain workers without offering full-time job stability. 'Adding more full-time roles will help attract more professionals, support existing employees by providing better staffing coverage, improve team cohesiveness and provide a safer work environment for workers and providers,' Cockrill said. Cockrill made the announcement in Moose Jaw, where seven permanent nursing jobs will be added. Other rural communities like Kipling, southeast of Regina, will gain two permanent nursing positions. The Opposition NDP is questioning how the positions will be filled. 'You know as of this morning according to publicly available data, we have 1,647 vacant health care positions in the province and so why should people believe that [with] these 77 the Sask. Party will be able to fill whereas the previous 1,647 they could not,' NDP MLA Keith Jorgenson said. The Saskatchewan Health Authority does not know how long it will take to fill the 77 permanent positions but with any of the spots already filled by parttime and temporary workers, convincing them to go full-time could make the job easier.
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Iowa Democrat Stephanie Steiner to run Iowa's 4th Congressional District seat in 2026
Democrat Stephanie Steiner has launched a campaign for Congress in Iowa's 4th District, saying she was spurred to act after the passage of Republicans' "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." She noted that thousands of Iowans are expected to lose their access to Medicaid as a result of the law, and experts say they expect the changes to have a disproportionately negative effect on rural hospitals. "It is going to devastate our state," Steiner said. 'Broadly, that was what pushed me into saying, 'OK, well if somebody needs to do it, I will.'" More: 8 ways Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' will affect Iowans, from rural hospitals to biofuels Current 4th District U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, a Republican, is expected to vacate the seat as he eyes a run for governor in 2026. A trio of Republicans have announced campaigns to try to replace him: farmer Kyle Larsen, Siouxland Chamber of Commerce President Chris McGowan and state Rep. Matt Windschitl. And another Democrat, Ashley WolfTornabane, has also announced a campaign. Democrat Ryan Melton previously said he would seek his party's nomination, but he ended his campaign for personal reasons earlier this year. Steiner, 43, lives on an acreage outside of Sutherland with her husband and three youngest children. She said she worked as a labor and delivery nurse and as a traveling nurse before becoming a stay-at-home mom. Steiner said her younger children's father passed away suddenly in 2019 after losing access to medications. That, paired with her experience in the health care field, drives her passion for protecting access to health care, she said. 'I never want another mother or another father, another set of children to go through that because it's awful," she said. "It's awful.' Steiner said she also wants to focus on protecting civil rights for LGBTQ+ Iowans and other marginalized communities. The 4th District is the most conservative of Iowa's four congressional districts, spanning much of northwest Iowa and the full western edge of the state. Nonpartisan analysts at Cook Political Report rate it as a "solid Republican" district. Steiner said she understands the odds are stacked against Democrats, but she felt compelled to run anyway. 'We will lose 100% of the races we never run," she said. "So, if I don't do it, somebody else doesn't do it, then I can tell you this, we won't win it. But what I hope is to connect with the people in our district." Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at bpfann@ or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Democrat Stephanie Steiner to run for Congress in Iowa's 4th District
Gizmodo
16-07-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
The Big Beautiful Bill Is Bad for Americans' Health and Wallets, Study Finds
The 'Big Beautiful Bill' is now law, and it's poised to wreak plenty of destruction. Research out today finds that the policy changes will lead to thousands more deaths annually, as well as harm the financial health of rural hospitals. Epidemiologists at the University of California, San Francisco, and elsewhere conducted the study. They found the Medicaid cuts caused by the Big Beautiful Bill will cause many avoidable hospitalizations and deaths, put dozens of rural hospitals at high risk of closing, and ultimately leave a big dent in the U.S. economy as a whole. The findings are only the latest to highlight the likely damage from the Trump administration's now crowning achievement. 'This analysis suggests substantive negative health and economic impacts from provisions in the current Medicaid reform bill,' the authors wrote in their paper, published Wednesday in JAMA Health Forum. Elon Musk Rekindles Trump Criticism, Attacks 'Big, Beautiful Bill' The One Big Beautiful Bill Act—signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4—extends the 2017 tax cuts passed during Trump's first term and enacts many of the administration's other priorities, including increased defense spending. It was crafted as a budget reconciliation bill, which allowed Republicans to pass it through the Senate with a simple majority. To offset some of its added expenditures, the bill includes provisions designed to trim spending across several programs, most notably Medicaid. These provisions include tighter restrictions on Medicaid eligibility, work requirements for non-disabled adults, and the delay of Biden-era regulations to simplify and expand Medicaid access. The Congressional Budget Office previously projected that these changes would reduce Medicaid spending by roughly $700 billion between 2026 and 2034 and cause 10.3 million people to leave Medicaid by 2034, including 7.6 million who would become uninsured entirely. To come up with their estimates, the study authors analyzed past research looking at the aftereffects of losing health care coverage on people, hospitals, and the economy. Under the CBO's projections of lost coverage, they estimated that nearly 95,000 more hospitalizations in the U.S. would occur annually by 2034, along with 1,500 excess deaths a year. 1.6 million people annually would also delay medical care due to cost, and nearly 2 million would fail to take their medications as instructed. The researchers further calculated the bill would cause many rural hospitals to lose revenue from losing patients covered by Medicaid and having to pay for uninsured patients instead. They estimated that 101 rural hospitals would be at high risk for closure by 2034. The losses in coverage were also estimated to result in 302,000 lost jobs annually by 2034, as well as $135.3 billion less money being pumped into the economy every year, including $11 billion lost in state and local taxes. These coverage losses could additionally generate $7.6 billion in medical debt by 2034. Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' Will Literally Kill, Study Warns Other studies have mapped out the health costs of the Big Beautiful Bill, but the study researchers say their analysis takes an even deeper look into the total fallout that will come from it. 'The study critically is peer-reviewed and uses evidence from multiple rigorous studies to create a hopefully more credible assessment of impact, specifically looking beyond coverage losses alone to other secondary impacts on healthcare entities and local economies,' lead author Sanjay Baju, an epidemiologist and physician at UCSF, told Gizmodo. Though the bill is now signed into law, there may yet be further changes made to Medicaid. But Baju and his colleagues don't expect any such changes to significantly alter their estimates. If anything, the numbers may be too rosy. It's possible that even more people will lose their Medicaid coverage, the researchers note, and they didn't analyze the impact of possible negative changes to Medicare that could also be set into motion by the bill. While these provisions aren't scheduled to come into effect for some time, some rural hospitals have already blamed the law for their closures. Baju says that it's still possible to mitigate at least some of the harms caused by the bill, such as through added private funding. But the reality of the situation is grim enough that even many of its supporters are scrambling to run damage control. Health and Human Secretary Robert F. Kennedy recently denied outright that the law will cause any Medicaid cuts, for instance, while Senator Josh Hawley (R-Montana) introduced legislation Tuesday to prevent the Medicaid changes he voted for.
