Republicans’ New Favorite Health Care Lie

This week, congressional Republicans are holding both House and Senate in recess, refusing to meet or negotiate legislation to stop catastrophically large health care premium increases caused by their Big Ugly Bill. As the approaching government funding deadline puts more attention on health care costs, Republicans are increasingly relying on mass deception about the effects of their bill's massive cuts to Medicaid, and the ways it will affect hospitals in rural communities.

The Big Ugly Bill and Rural Hospitals: The Facts

H.R.1 as enacted and signed into law by President Trump cuts an estimated $911 billion from Medicaid, according to KFF and the Congressional Budget Office - the largest cut to Medicaid since the program was created. Under the law, these cuts are permanent.

Some Republican holdouts on the bill were concerned that these cuts would lead to widespread closures of hospitals in rural communities. To win their votes, Republicans added a temporary $50 billion "rural health fund" to offset some cuts in rural areas, which expires in five years.

The full impact of the bill's Medicaid cuts, however, includes an estimated $137 billion in cuts to rural areas, which means Republicans' "rural health fund" does not restore anywhere near the funding they voted to cut from rural areas. Put another way: the net effect of the Big Ugly Bill with the rural health fund is still a huge cut to rural hospitals. And the cuts are permanent, whereas the fund is temporary.

Most Republicans represent rural areas, so they are sensitive to hearing negative feedback about their law's impact on rural health. They have a new strategy to respond to the backlash to their votes to defund rural hospitals: they are lying about it.

Would You Rather Have $137 Billion Or $50 Billion?

To deflect criticism for their votes to cut Medicaid and endanger rural hospitals, top Republicans in Congress and Trump Administration officials at federal health agencies are speaking about their temporary rural health fund as a new benefit they are bestowing on rural communities, calling it "the largest investment in rural healthcare in history."

This "investment" is an $87 billion funding cut!

If someone stole $137 from you and then gave you back $50, you probably would not see that as a good thing. You would want all of your money back!

Republicans, however, are claiming that Democratic' legislation to restore full funding to Medicaid is a "cut" to rural hospitals because it replaces their $50 billion "rural health fund" with fully restored Medicaid funding. President Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, and other Republicans in Congress are now peddling this extremely cynical lie.

Every Republican repeating this claim is lying to the American people. They voted to cut rural health, and they know it.

The Truth: Republicans And Trump Are Shutting Down Rural Hospitals

This issue is not just semantics, word games, or math: rural hospitals are already closing because of the Republican tax law:

CNN: Rural Health Clinics Are Closing After Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' Raising The Legislation's Political Risks

If Republicans in Congress did not want rural health facilities to close, they should not have voted to cut this funding.

Lying about it now will not undo their Medicaid cuts, only their votes can.