The GOP Votes To Repeal Its Rural Voters’ Hospital Funding

Unsurprisingly, it appears that poor, rural Republican voters have once again been duped into voting against their own interests.

With the so-called “vote-a-rama” amendments to the 2017 budget resolution, Republicans have been working to quickly dismantle the Affordable Care Act, while Democrats have been working to preserve what they can and make sure Republicans own any negative consequences for the anti-Obamacare rush. As part of the Republican Party’s ongoing Obamacare repeal efforts, the GOP voted yesterday in support of stripping federal funding for rural healthcare. Democrats, naturally, opposed this.

Part of the ACA stipulated that federal funding would be given to rural hospitals so that they could stay in business despite under-insured patients and rising medical costs. Obamacare also helped prevent many rural hospitals from closing simply because it led to more people having health insurance and being able to pay for their hospital stays. With these subsidies’ potential repeal, rural hospitals are again going to have to struggle to stay open treating patients who cannot pay their hospital bills.

Whatever reason rural voters elected Republicans to represent their interests in government, I hope it’s worth not having a local hospital.