FOR PLANNING PURPOSES
Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025
Contact: Valeria Rivadeneira (Warner) 202 281 5202
***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 AT 9 AM ET***
Southampton Medical Center is one of the six rural hospitals in Virginia at disproportionate risk of closure or service reductions
Franklin, VA – TODAY, September 2, at 9:00 AM ET in the City of Franklin, U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA) will sit down with Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott and community members and leaders who rely on Southampton Medical Center – one of the six rural hospitals in Virginia and more than 300 rural hospitals across the nation that are now at disproportionate risk of closure, conversion, or dramatic service reductions following passage of the “Big Beautiful” Republican budget law.
As part of this conversation, Sen. Warner will call on Bon Secours-Mercy Health – the health system that runs the hospital – to put the community first and ensure that it does not leave patients behind in the face of the difficult financial decisions that are expected to come.
The senator will also be joined in this conversation by health care leaders and stakeholders who are expected to discuss the toll that this law will take on rural communities and rural hospitals, half of which are already operating at a financial loss and all of which depend largely on Medicaid dollars. The Republican budget law is expected to increase the rate of uncompensated care and push already-struggling rural hospitals further toward financial collapse by slashing Medicaid – which covers more than 37 percent of rural children and nearly half of rural births – and gutting other health care investments, including Affordable Care Act tax credits.
WHO: U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA)
Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott
Health Care Advocates
WHAT: Warner to Sit Down with Community Members and Leaders Concerned that their Hospital is At Risk Due to Republican Budget Law
WHERE: Hayden Village Center
680 Oak Street
Franklin, VA 23851
This event is open to the press. Media are asked to please RSVP to [email protected]
WHEN: Tuesday, September 2, 2025 at 9 AM ET