Washington, D.C. – Protect Our Care is launching a new radio ad in rural communities across the country outlining the threat facing rural communities and their hospitals after the Republican Medicaid cuts. Donald Trump and Republicans passed the largest Medicaid cuts in history in order to fund huge tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.
As a result, hospitals, health care centers, clinics, and nursing homes will lose critical revenue while dealing with greater costs from more uncompensated care. They will be forced to make a decision: cut services or close their doors entirely. Seniors, people with disabilities, expectant mothers, and cancer patients will have to travel further to get care and endure longer wait times in overwhelmed emergency rooms. Protect Our Care has launched Hospital Crisis Watch to track the harm caused by Donald Trump and Republicans’ spending bill in real time – community by community, hospital by hospital.
“These devastating Medicaid cuts passed by Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress threaten to shut down over 330 rural hospitals, leaving entire communities without access to critical care,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Families in rural America will be forced to drive hours for emergency care, while hospitals, local clinics, nursing homes, and health centers lose the funding they rely on to stay open. These are real consequences that put millions of lives at risk. Protect Our Care is working to educate rural Americans about the impacts of the cuts to Medicaid because every family deserves access to quality health care close to home.”
The ad will run on rural radio stations across the country in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
Sample Radio Ad Script:
Male Narrator: Folks like us, we know all about long drives. It can be peaceful… hours out on the open road. Except when you have a medical emergency – then, you need a hospital nearby.
We’ve already seen almost two hundred rural hospitals across the country shut down. And now – it’s about to get much worse.
Republicans in Congress [and the Trump administration] just passed the biggest cut to Medicaid in history. This will hit rural Americans the hardest. The American Hospital Association says 1.8 million Americans in rural areas will lose health care – including children, veterans, and seniors in nursing homes.
Over three hundred rural hospitals are at immediate risk of closure, forcing thousands of Americans to drive several hours to get to the nearest emergency room.
To learn more about how these Medicaid cuts impact you and hospitals in your community, visit ProtectOurCare.org/ruralhospitals. Paid for by Protect Our Care Education Fund.