[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 25, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H2925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 KEEP RURAL HOSPITALS OPEN AS LIFELINE

  (Ms. McBride of Delaware was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. McBRIDE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the rural 
communities in Delaware and the hospitals that are their lifelines 
because if the Republican budget is passed, that lifeline will be cut.
  Across Delaware, rural hospitals are doing more than just providing 
care. They are holding communities together. They are delivering 
babies. They are treating emergencies. They are caring for aging 
parents. They are anchors of both health and economic stability.
  Under this budget, all of that is at risk. For rural hospitals, it 
means more unpaid bills, more red tape, and more patient bankruptcies. 
For some rural hospitals, it means closure. When Medicaid is gutted, 
rural hospitals don't just struggle. They shutter.
  Today, over 40 percent of rural hospitals operate at a loss. They 
rely on Medicaid to keep the lights on and the doors open. Take that 
funding away, and entire regions lose access to maternity care, cancer 
treatment, mental health services, and more.
  This isn't hypothetical. Before Medicaid expansion, clinics were 
closing, nurses were being laid off, and people were driving for hours 
just to see a doctor. Now, the majority party wants to bring that 
devastation to Delaware, where we have diligently worked to ensure that 
we have no care deserts.
  Even in the places where those hospitals will survive, fewer patients 
will have coverage.
  This budget would impose endless red tape and import the worst parts 
of the private healthcare system, confusing paperwork and needless 
bureaucracy, into the Medicaid program.
  In total, 16 million people could lose coverage. Millions more could 
lose access to care in their community. In Delaware, that will mean 
40,000 of our neighbors--working families, children, seniors in 
assisted living, and people managing chronic conditions--getting 
dropped from coverage.
  Mr. Speaker, I will tell you what that means in real life. It means 
missed chemotherapy appointments because the hospital shuts down. It 
means laboring mothers being driven 1\1/2\ hours to the nearest 
delivery room. It means children skipping care for chronic asthma 
because their pediatrician can't afford to stay open. It means working 
people in Delaware will skip doctors' appointments because they have 
lost their insurance, only to end up in the emergency room and facing 
longer wait times and crushing medical bills.
  Rural hospitals are left to absorb the costs while patients are 
burdened with life-altering debt, and, yes, it means more preventable 
deaths.
  All of this, Mr. Speaker, is just to partially--just partially--pay 
for tax breaks for billionaires.
  I have heard from healthcare leaders across my State who have told me 
plainly that if this budget passes, they will have to reduce services 
and lay off staff. Their facilities serve hundreds and, in some cases, 
thousands of Medicaid patients. They are operating on razor-thin 
margins already.
  This plan would push rural hospitals and clinics over the cliff. Cuts 
to Medicaid aren't just cuts to line items on a budget. They are cuts 
to care that keep my constituents alive.
  Mr. Speaker, let's be honest about what this is: a budget that raises 
costs for working families, adds red tape for patients and providers, 
and gives handouts to billionaires, all while risking the collapse of 
rural healthcare systems.
  If you believe in the dignity of rural communities and if you believe 
that no one should die because their local hospital couldn't keep its 
doors open, then join me in opposing this horrible and heartless bill.

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