Rural hospitals are preparing for $ 1 trillion to cut medical aid in a “big and beautiful invoice”

Now, with the planning of Congress around it 1 trillion dollars of medical discounts For 10 years, these farmers and more than 3000 residents of Wester province are not only lost, but also the clinic and the hospital’s nursing home.

“Our budget is strongly dependent on the payment of a maid, so if we see part of that, it will be difficult to keep the doors open,” said Sherman, who works at Wester County Community Hospital in the small town of Red Klaud directly north of Kansas borders.

If these facilities are closed, many local residents will see their five -minute trip to Wester County Hospital to about an hour for a period of approximately a hospital that provides the same services.

Sherman said: “This is a long way of emergency.” “Some will not make it.”

Hospitals, which are already struggling, will be particularly difficult

The states and rural health advocacy groups warn that Cut the medical aid -A program serves millions of Americans with low and disabled income-it will collide with already fragile rural hospitals and can force hundreds to close, which reduces some people in remote areas without nearly care for emergency.

It can be more than 300 hospitals At the risk of closing Under the Republican Law, according to the analysis conducted by the Cecil C Chips Center at North Carolina University in Chapel Hill, which tracks the closure of the rural hospital. Although Congress is on the controversial draft law, a health clinic in the town of Cortis in the southwest of Nebraska will be closed in the coming months, in part to blame the expected medical aid discounts.

Bruce Shay, from Bombret, Contect, is afraid that he and his wife will be among those who were left in the brush. In the seventy, both are in good health. But this means that if he needs either to go to the hospital, this will be an emergency. ”

Kimbal Day Hospital is near in Putnam, but he faced it Recent financial challenges. I admit. Kyle Kramer, CEO of Day Kimbaall, said that the Senate Bill that was passed on Tuesday – is estimated to have reduced federal spending in rural areas by $ 155 billion over 10 years – will increase the final result of his country hospital. Nearly 30 % of the current KIMBAL patients receive Medicaid’s advantages, a higher number of specific and decisive services such as obstetrics and behavioral health.

“I mean, I am 45 minutes to an hour from the nearest hospital,” said Shay. He and his only wife should not have this trip.

He said: “I got thousands of people who rely on Kimbal Hospital a day. If you are closed, thousands of people will have to go to another hospital.” “This is a huge burden to suddenly impose on the hospital system that may already be extended.”

Experts say the bill of bill is worth $ 50 billion for rural hospitals is not enough

Its rural hospitals have It has long been working on the financial edgeEspecially in recent years, with Medicaid payments constantly from the actual cost of providing health care. More than 20 % of Americans live in rural areas, where medicaid 1 in every 4 adults covers, according to non -profit KFF, which is studying health care issues.

President Donald Trump 4 dollars tax failure $ 4.5 trillion, spending bills, That passed on Thursday, would get worse by rural hospital conflicts by cutting a major federal program that helps the states to finance medical payments for health care providers. To help compensate for lost tax revenues, the package includes $ 1.2 trillion of discounts in Medicaid programs and other social security network programs – reductions only insist on removing fraud and waste in the system.

But the public screaming of Medicaid discounts prompted the Republicans to include a item that provides $ 10 billion annually to fatty rural hospitals over the next five years, or a total of $ 50 billion. Many rural hospital advocates warn that it will not be enough to cover the deficiency.

Carrie Kokran-Maklain, chief policy in the National Society for Rural Health, said that rural hospitals are already struggling to break even, noting the report of the Modern American Hospitals Association, which found that in 2023 hospitals obtained nearly 28 billion dollars of medical aid from the actual cost of treating medical aid patients.

“We see rural hospitals all over the country are really working on negative or very small operating margins,” said Kokran Makkalin. “In the sense that any amount from the reduction to a motivation – especially a motivation such as Medicaid, which is a large part of the financing of the countryside – will be the result of rural hospitals’ ability to provide certain services or even keep their doors open at the end of the day.”

Kentucky is expected to be hit hard

A KFF report 36 states losing $ 1 billion or more over 10 years have been financing Medicaid to rural areas under Republican Law, even with the rural fund of 50 billion dollars. There is no country that will lose more than Kentucky.

The report estimates that the condition of the Blu Grass will lose a huge amount of $ 12.3 billion – or approximately $ 5 billion than the next state in the list. This is because the draft law ends in the unique payment system by Kentucky in Medicaid and reduces the levels of medical care payment.

Kentucky currently has one of the lowest medical care rates in the country. It also has one of the highest poverty rates, which leads to a third of its population that is covered by Medicaid.

Kentucky State Governor Andy Bishir, a Democrat from a student who is widely seen as a possible candidate for the presidency in 2028, said that the draft law will close 35 hospitals in his term and withdraw health care coverage for 200,000 residents.

“Half of Kentucky’s children are covered under Medicaid. They lose their coverage while you are defending that next recipe,” said Bishir during his appearance on MSNBC. “This will affect the life of every American negatively. Our economy will be offered.”