On September 9, the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare sponsored a summit hosted by Punchbowl News, convening leaders from across the healthcare community to explore access to care, with a focus on the challenges facing rural communities.
The event’s opening session featured a conversation with Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT). Welch discussed his experience advocating against health cuts in Congress and the expected impact on hospitals and health systems.
Welch urged lawmakers to act, noting that both parties will face pressure to mitigate the effects. He said, “The pressure is coming. The pressure on us to do something to shield folks against that kind of shock is great and hopefully will allow us to come up with at least a short-term remedy… A lot of our strategy is to fight, to expose, to reveal, to lay out what the implications are…”
Welch also highlighted the specific risks for rural communities, warning that hospitals already face financial challenges: “Our rural hospitals are all operating on the thinnest of margins. Those hospitals will open the doors when someone comes in, but they just won’t get paid. At a certain point, they can’t stay in existence, so rural America is in great jeopardy as a result of this.”
The event also featured a fireside chat with Wright Lassiter, CEO of CommonSpirit Health, who outlined the challenges his healthcare system and others will face because of the impending health cuts. When asked about the potential impacts, Lassiter said, “The short answer is that systems will close… in some cases facilities close, in others, services are cut… in rural communities, for instance, where you have a need for maternal healthcare, oftentimes you can’t keep OB programs going when you have funding declines, significant losses and you don’t have access to providers or caregivers that are necessary.”
Lastly, a panel discussion featured Emily Holubowich, National Senior Vice President of Federal Advocacy, the American Heart Association; Dr. Torey Mack, Chief Medical Officer, Children’s Hospital Association; Robin Rudowitz, Vice President and Director of Programs for Medicaid & the Uninsured, KFF; and Dr. Julie Yaroch, President, ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital.
The panel focused on the effects they are already seeing from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including the potential loss of coverage and the impact of funding issues on providers. “States are really going to have to deal with and make some very hard decisions about how to manage with less federal dollars,” Rudowitz said. “So I think the coverage impacts as well as the financing implications will have broad ramifications for states, providers, and people who might lose access to coverage.”
Dr. Yaroch said, “This [Medicaid] funding is making care accessible no matter what zip code you are in, so if we lost that funding, I’m looking at what more I’m going to close. I’m looking at other innovative solutions, but chances are, those are going to come at a cost.”
The full event can be viewed at this link.