As Democrats release a flurry of midterm ads portraying GOP cuts to Medicaid as a threat to rural healthcare, Republicans have countered with ads claiming Democratic candidates in Texas and Pennsylvania would put dozens of rural hospitals out of business by creating a public health insurance option. But the ads cite an industry-backed study whose assumptions don’t apply to all public option proposals.
As the midterms approach, ads supporting Democrats and Republicans are making competing claims about how President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy law will impact rural healthcare.
In the battle over how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act affects rural hospitals, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has touted a five-year $50 billion fund as “an infusion of cash” that will “restore and revitalize” rural communities. But his statements ignore the higher estimated Medicaid spending cuts to rural areas under the law.