New concerns about funding for rural hospitals in Southwest Virginia.
Last week’s spending bill included billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts, which experts say could force more than 300 rural hospitals to close their doors and leave many without access to critical care.
“Many of those hospitals in southwest and south side have already cut back on OBGYN services where you have to drive literally hundreds of miles to have a baby. If more of those hospitals close, it’ll be a disaster,” Sen. Warner said.
The bill does include $50 billion to fund rural hospitals, which some lawmakers say is enough to keep them open.
“Will there be some hospitals that are at risk? If they’re having bottom line problems now, it does create some issues and we’re going to have to pay attention to it and figure out ways that we can make things better. That’s why the Senate created a fund,” Rep. Morgan Griffith said.
According to KFF, a health news site, Virginia could lose over $6 billion in rural Medicaid spending over the next 10 years.