ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill is a piece of legislation that aims to reduce federal spending.
One of those areas the bill looks to cut is Medicaid.
Currently, the federal government pays 90 percent of the Medicaid costs to provide healthcare to patients, while the state covers 10 percent.
Under the Big Beautiful Bill, healthcare systems would be given a set amount of money from the government, and hospitals would have to pay the remaining balance. That is something healthcare providers say could have devastating results on hospitals throughout the country.
“On hospital stability, on hospital survival, in some cases, under this plan, there is a significant likelihood hospitals could close.”
According to Senate Democratic leaders, 336 rural hospitals would be at risk of closing, 6 of which are in Virginia.
Julian Walker works for the Virginia Health Care Association, which represents healthcare providers across the Commonwealth.
He said the closings would have long-reaching impacts on the communities they serve.
“It also not just be the direct jobs, but hospitals are some of the largest employers in their communities directly, but they also are supporting secondary jobs in their communities,” Walker said.
According to the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, if the bill were passed, over 165,000 people in Virginia would be at risk of losing their healthcare.
New Horizons Healthcare serves the Roanoke Valley and is committed to the well-being of its clients.
“Anything that compromises coverage for folks that don’t have a lot of resources, that don’t have a lot of options, it significantly impacts their health,” CEO Jonathan Stewart said. “It just puts them in a tremendously difficult position to be uninsured. So we’re very concerned about it.”
As the bill continues to be debated between the House and Senate until both chambers agree on the legislation, healthcare providers are continuing to advocate for themselves and the people they serve.
“We’ve been hard at work doing is advocating to our elected officials, helping them understand that coverage is synonymous with access for a lot of folks. It may not guarantee access just because you have coverage.”
Now that the bill has been passed in the Senate, it will be sent back to the House of Representatives to approve or reject the changes in this latest version of the bill.
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