CNN: GOP Budget Law Continues to Gut Rural Hospitals, Creating Major Vulnerability for Republicans Running for Governor

CNN: GOP Budget Law Continues to Gut Rural Hospitals, Creating Major Vulnerability for Republicans Running for Governor

New reporting from CNN uncovers how hospitals across the country are "cash-strapped" and "making cuts" as a result of Trump and D.C. Republicans' budget bill that slashed health care funding - creating a major vulnerability for GOP candidates in key governor's races.

Republican gubernatorial candidates will be forced to answer for Trump's bill that is decimating rural health care, increasing health care costs for families, forcing some mothers to drive half an hour to the nearest maternity ward, and causing mass layoffs of health care workers. Andy Biggs (AZ), David Schweikert (AZ), Byron Donalds (FL), Randy Feenstra (IA), John James (MI), and Tom Tiffany (WI) not only voted for the budget law, but have been outspoken in their support for it - even as its forcing hospitals to close their doors and pushing health care out of reach in rural communities.

Check out more from CNN's reporting here or read more below:

CNN: Hospitals are making cuts after 'big beautiful bill,' fueling Democrats' midterm attacks

• In northeast Georgia, a hospital closed its maternity ward. In rural New Hampshire, a community health center shuttered. And in Iowa, a Des Moines hospital system laid off dozens of employees and closed a clinic.

• All these providers cited President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy agenda package, which slashed more than $1 trillion in federal support for health care, as a factor in their decisions.

• The legislation, known as the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act," is expected to leave millions more Americans without coverage and to cut vital financial support for hospitals - a combination that could force already cash-strapped providers to pull back on services and staffing, leaving patients with fewer places and longer waits for care, particularly in emergency rooms.

• But Republicans hoping to tout the legislation as a point in their favor in November are confronting an escalating political backlash to the emerging consequences of those cuts, as lawmakers who supported it take the blame.

• Compounding the problem is the expiration of the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium subsidies, which Republicans in Congress opted not to extend despite heavy pressure from Democrats. Some 2 million fewer people are expected to be insured this year, according to the CBO.

• Many hospitals, particularly those in rural areas or who treat a lot of underserved patients, have been struggling financially for years, contending with rising expenses, workforce shortages, an aging population and federal reimbursement rates that don't cover the cost of care. Nearly 200 rural hospitals have closed or stopped providing inpatient care since 2005, according to the Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
• It's an issue for a series of high-stakes races across all these states that could help decide control of Congress this fall.

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