Factual Friday!

Future headline - "Where have all the hospitals gone?"

Today’s edition of Factual Friday focuses on Congressional Republicans’ plans to slash Federal spending by $1.5 trillion (!!!).

First up on the chopping block - Medicare and Medicaid.

Followed immediately by dozens of rural hospitals closing. (Medicaid is way more important to rural communities than inner cities)

From Becker’s:

House Republicans released a budget blueprint on Feb. 12 that orders the Energy and Commerce Committee which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, to find $880 billion in savings from fiscal years 2025 through 2034.

Medicare and Medicaid are by far the largest programs under [the Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight. The $880 billion makes up more than half of the $1.5 trillion total cost reductions Republican lawmakers aim to achieve over the 10-year period.

Republicans are deadly serious about slashing Medicare and Medicaid.

The reaction from hospitals, physician groups, the AMA, States and others was immediate and vociferous. For-profit system Tenet Healthcare is especially concerned…it had record profits last year and clearly sees deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid as an existential threat.

If you live in a rural area you need to be paying VERY close attention…432 rural hospitals are at risk of closure; the leading driver - Medicaid reductions.

Arkansas, Kansas and Mississippi risk losing about half of ALL their hospitals; Florida and Tennessee are right behind losing 2 of every five.

here’s how this affects your state.

What this means for you:

Residents of rural counties losing hospitals saw unemployment increase by 0.9 percent and wages drop by 2.2% compared to counties without closures.

From there Kansas City Fed’s report:

Longer-term repercussions of hospital closures could further impede economic growth in counties with closures...

poorer health may lead to economic consequences such as increased worker absences and lower productivity…

access to quality health care…especially in rural areas [is an important issue] households and businesses may consider in choosing where to locate.

For my friends in workers’ comp…

• Underwriting risks with exposure in rural counties must reflect the availability of medical care. If significant injuries aren’t treated within the Golden Hour outcomes can get really bad really quickly.

  • Lots of high severity employment - timber, agriculture, mining, infrastructure happens in rural areas.

• Reductions in employment opportunities in rural areas affects return to work

• Rural hospitals that survive are going to look to work comp patients to make up for the loss of Medicaid dollars and big increase in unpaid care.