Republicans' Budget Bill Would Devastate Rural Hospitals

American Hospital Association reports proposed budget would lead to a $50.4 billion reduction in federal Medicaid spending on rural hospitals over 10 years

Washington D.C. - The American Hospital Association is warning that the big, bad, budget bill that’s now making its way through the U.S. Senate includes provisions that “further undermine the ability for hospitals to provide care to Medicaid patients.”

Instead of scaling back unpopular Medicaid cuts that House Republicans introduced, the Senate is making the problem worse.

According to the American Hospital Association:

• 48% of rural hospitals operated at a financial loss in 2023.
• 92 rural hospitals have closed their doors or been unable to continue providing inpatient services over the past 10 years.

Medicaid cuts will only worsen this crisis, and rural communities heavily rely on it for their health insurance:

• 16.1 million people living in rural communities are covered by Medicaid.
• 47% of rural births in the U.S. are covered by Medicaid.
• 65% of nursing home residents in rural counties are covered by Medicaid.

At the end of the day, it’s estimated that 1,800,000 people in rural communities will lose their Medicaid coverage in the next ten years – tens of thousands of whom are Iowans. Iowa families can’t afford this bill.

“Iowa families didn’t vote for hospital closures or to kick anyone off their health insurance plans,” said Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart. “They were promised reduced grocery prices, an end to inflation, and world peace by the Republican Party. What they’re getting is cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and prices that keep going up. The Republicans have left their promises in the dust, and come 2026, they’re going to get left behind too.”