Rural hospitals are prepared for a medicaid cut of $ 1 billion in ‘Bold Bill y Hermosa’

Now, with the Congress that plans around $ 1 billion in Medicaid cuts for 10 years, fears that these farmers and the more than 3,000 webster county residents can lose not only the emergency room, but also the clinic and home of elders linked to the hospital.

“Our budget depends a lot on the refund of Medicaid, so if we see a cut of that, it will be difficult to keep the doors open,” said Sherman, who works at the webster county hospital in the small city of Red Cloud in Nebraska, just north of the Kansas border.

If these facilities close, many stores would see their five -minute trip to the Webster County Hospital to become a trip of almost an hour to the nearest hospital that offers the same services.

“That is a long way for an emergency,” Sherman said. “Some do not succeed.”

Hospitals that already have difficulties would be particularly affected

Rural Health Defense states and groups warn that Cut Medicaid -A program that serves millions of low-income and disabled Americans-would golpe the rural hospitals already fragile strongly and could force hundreds of closing, forcing some people in remote areas without nearby emergency care.

More than 300 hospitals could be at risk of closure According to the Republican bill, according to an analysis of the Cecil G. Sheps Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, which tracks rural hospitals closures. Even when Congress regulated the controversial bill, a health clinic in the city of Curtis in southwest Nebraska announced Wednesday that it will close in the coming months, partly blaming the early cuts of Medicaid.

Bruce Shay, from Pomfret, Connecticut, fears that he and his wife can be among those who remain in the stake. At 70, both have good health, he said. But that probably means that if it is necessary to go to a hospital, “it will be an emergency.”

Day Kimball Hospital is close to Putnam, but has faced Recent financial challenges. The CEO of Day Kimball, R. Kyle Kramer, acknowledged that a Senate bill approved on Tuesday, estimated to reduce Federal Medicaid spending in rural areas in $ 155 billion for 10 years, would further damage the final result of its rural hospital. Approximately 30% of current Day Kimball patients receive benefits from Medicaid, an even higher figure for specific and critical services such as obstetrics and behavioral health.

“An emergency means that I am 45 minutes from one hour from the nearest hospital, and that is a problem,” Shay said. And he and his wife would not be the only ones who have to make that trip.

“I have, I’m sure, thousands of people trusting the Day Kimball. If he closed, thousands of people would have to go to another hospital,” he said. “That is a great burden to suddenly impose on a hospital system that probably stretches thin.”

Experts say that the $ 50 billion fund for rural hospitals is not enough

Rural hospitals have Operated for a long time in the financial advantageEspecially in recent years, since Medicaid payments have fallen continuously below the real cost to provide medical care. More than 20% of Americans live in rural areas, where Medicaid covers 1 in 4 adults, according to the non -profit organization KFF, who studies medical care problems.

President Donald Trump’s $ 4.5 billion tax exemptions and bill of expenses, That happened on Thursday, the struggles of rural hospitals would worsen by reducing a key federal program that helps states to finance medical payments to medical care providers. To help compensate for lost tax revenues, the package includes $ 1.2 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other social security network programs: cuts only insist on eliminating fraud and waste in the system.

But the Public Protest on Medicaid cuts led the Republicans to include a provision that will provide $ 10 billion annually to reinforce rural hospitals in the next five years, or $ 50 billion in total. Many defenders of the Rural Hospital distrust that it will not be enough to cover the deficit.

Carrie Cochran-McClain, Director of Policies of the National Association of Rural Health, said that rural hospitals are already fighting the point of equilibrium, citing a recent report by the American Hospital Association that found that hospitals in 2023 obtained almost $ 28 million less from a doctor than the real cost of treating patients with Medicaid.

“We see that rural hospitals throughout the country really operate with negative or very small operational margins,” said Cochran-McClain. “That is, any amount of cut to a payer, especially a payer like Medicaid that constitutes a significant part of the financing of the rural supplier, will be consistent for the ability of rural hospitals to provide certain services or perhaps keep its doors open at the end of the day.”

Kentucky is expected to be hit especially hard

TO KFF report It shows 36 states that lose $ 1 billion or more for 10 years in medical funds for rural areas under the project of republican law, even with the rural fund of $ 50 billion. No state can lose more than Kentucky.

The report estimates that the state of Bluegrass would lose the whopping $ 12.3 billion, almost $ 5 billion more than the next state in the list. This is because the bill ends the unique Kentucky Medicaid refund system and reduces it to Medicare’s refund levels.

Kentucky currently has one of Medicare’s lowest reimbursement rates in the country. It also has one of the highest poverty rates, which leads to a third of its population being covered by Medicaid.

The governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, a two -period Democrat, widely seen as a potential candidate for the president in 2028, said that the bill would close 35 hospitals in his state and extract the coverage of medical care for 200,000 residents.

“Half of Kentucky’s children are covered by Medicaid. They lose their coverage and you are fighting for the next recipe,” Beshear said during a MSNBC appearance. “This will negatively affect the life of each American. It will hammer our economy.”