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\n Exactly two months after President Donald Trump signed his policy megabill<\/a> in a July 4 celebration at the White House, a Virginia health care company blamed the law for the closure of three rural clinics serving communities along the Blue Ridge Mountains.\n <\/p>\n \n The closures, Augusta Medical Group said in its statement<\/a>, were part of the company\u2019s \u201congoing response to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the resulting realities for healthcare delivery.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Rural health providers that rely on Medicaid funding were already under strain before the bill cut federal health spending by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. Now, Democrats are linking that crisis to Trump and Republicans in elections this year and next.\n <\/p>\n \n Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger recently campaigned in Buena Vista, a 6,600-person town that is losing its clinic, as she tries to improve her party\u2019s standing with rural voters ahead of this fall\u2019s election. Candidates for governor, potentially faced with the job of navigating the cuts, have been among the most vocal about the threats to rural health care, including Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia<\/a>, Rob Sand in Iowa<\/a>, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York<\/a> and former Biden administration Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in New Mexico<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cRural hospitals are closing, at the end of the day. We\u2019re seeing the tip of the iceberg here in Virginia, and it\u2019s a sign of what\u2019s to come,\u201d said Marshall Cohen, a veteran Democratic strategist at the political firm KMM Strategies.\n <\/p>\n \n Ken Nunnenkamp, executive director of the Virginia GOP, pushed back on criticism of the Augusta Health closures in a statement to CNN. Augusta Health, which declined to comment beyond its statement, noted in its announcement that patients at two of the clinics could be reassigned to other facilities less than 10 miles away and that it would use a mobile clinic to serve people affected by the third closure.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf two health clinics consolidate in order to provide better, more consistent, and more accessible service to the patients from both locations, that is a win for rural communities,\u201d Nunnenkamp said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n \n Under the legislation, Medicaid spending is set to fall by more than $900 billion over the next 10 years, according to projections<\/a> from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. About 7.5 million more people would be uninsured in 2034 due to the policy changes, with 5.3 million of them being affected by the addition of work requirements<\/a> for many low-income adult enrollees, according to the CBO\u2019s most recent analysis.\n <\/p>\n \n The work requirements are likely to affect rural communities more, said Tim Layton, an associate professor of public policy and economics at the University of Virginia<\/a>, because it\u2019s harder for residents in those communities to find employment.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou can expect those places to be impacted by now having people who don\u2019t even have Medicaid,\u201d Layton said. \u201cWith fewer people to spread fixed costs across, it becomes harder and harder to stay open.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Rural health care providers disproportionately rely on Medicaid enrollees. They were already struggling with limited patient pools and long-term population loss.\n <\/p>\n \n Researchers at the University of North Carolina, cited<\/a> in a letter by Democratic senators opposing the GOP legislation, identified 338 rural health facilities nationwide endangered by the policy changes, including six total in Virginia.\n <\/p>\n \n Candice Crow, a mother of four children who have autism, heavily relies on the Bon Secours – Southampton Medical Center in Franklin, Virginia, one of the facilities on the researchers\u2019 list. She\u2019s been raising concerns with local media<\/a> and spoke to CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe staff there are so kind and caring. They do go above and beyond. They\u2019re very accommodating for the special needs children and all their little medical complexities that they have,\u201d Crow said. \u201cEvery minute counts when it comes to emergencies. This could cost someone their life, so you\u2019re taking away their lifeline.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n To alleviate the impact of the cuts, Republicans in Washington created a $50 billion fund<\/a> for rural health providers, inviting \u201call 50 states to apply for funding to address each state\u2019s specific rural health challenges.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf we invest this money wisely, we won\u2019t just have health care systems barely hanging on in rural America,\u201d said Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. \u201cThey\u2019ll start to thrive.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Nunnenkamp, the Virginia Republicans\u2019 executive director, called the fund \u201ceffectively the largest investment in rural hospitals in decades.\u201d US Rep. Ben Cline, the Republican representing Virginia\u2019s 6th District, which includes the three closed clinics, also pointed to the fund and defended his vote for the bill.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cProvisions like work requirements to root out waste, fraud, and abuse do not take effect until December 2026 or later. By making these reforms in cooperation with our health care providers, we can ensure that all Americans, especially those in rural areas, receive the high-quality health care they deserve,\u201d Cline said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n \n Layton said the rural health care fund was a \u201cshort-term patch,\u201d noting that \u201c$50 billion will go pretty quick.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The Kaiser Family Foundation, a national nonprofit focused on health policy, wrote in a July study<\/a> that \u201cfederal Medicaid spending in rural areas is estimated to decline by $137 billion, more than the $50 billion appropriated for the rural health fund.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee for governor, has also proposed tapping the state\u2019s rainy day fund to help cover additional funding.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe want to make sure that whatever happens with Medicaid, we have the money here to help. We have the money and the budget to help. You know, we have put money aside for rainy day,\u201d Sears said at an event in Marion, according to a report from Cardinal News<\/a>. \u201cThe bank account has never been that full. And so we are ready for any changes that happen.\u201d\n <\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gettyimages-2218149943.jpg\")
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