{"id":267103,"date":"2026-08-17T21:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267103\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T21:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:36:10","slug":"bare-minimum-healthcare-in-rural-pennsylvania-threatens-to-get-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267103\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bare Minimum\u2019 Healthcare in Rural Pennsylvania Threatens to Get Worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

(The Center Square<\/a>) \u2013 Residents of rural Pennsylvania continue to face obstacles to receiving healthcare as new Medicaid and Medicare requirements may soon disproportionately affect residents.<\/p>\n

Advocates and nonprofits are working to keep these services accessible.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Northwestern Pennsylvania has historically faced healthcare challenges for years, and is home to the phenomenon dubbed the\u00a0\u2018maternity desert\u2019<\/a>. Larger than Connecticut, this desert is comprised of eight counties which lack access to hospitals with delivery services or maternity providers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really seeing challenges with OBGYN services,\u201d said Lisa Davis, the director of the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health \u201cWe have a number of hospitals that have discontinued labor and delivery across the state\u201d. Davis noted that the \u2018concentration\u2019 of these reductions and difficulties are occurring in the northwestern part of the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maternity care, however, is just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult for many people to access a hospital,\u201d said Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks), the top Democrat in the Agricultural and Rural Affairs committee. \u201cWe\u2019re working on the bare minimum in terms of accessibility to the maximum amount of population.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, the rural communities have only one primary care physician for every 1,395 residents, compared to urban metrics which are closer to 788 for each physician. This means many Pennsylvanians are forced to make lengthy car trips to get the care they need.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Davis, however, fears pricier gas bills may soon be the least of their concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRural hospitals tend to have higher numbers of Medicare and Medicaid patients,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Davis predicted that many rural residents will lose their insurance coverage when the Big Beautiful Bill\u2019s new working requirements come into effect Jan. 1 of 2027. While these new requirements are meant to save money, she sees a flaw in the bill\u2019s logic.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because you don\u2019t have insurance doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t get sick,\u201d Davis said. \u201cEvery study has shown that those who are uninsured delay care and when they do access care they have more exacerbated conditions which then becomes more expensive to treat.\u201d<\/p>\n

These exacerbated conditions will greatly cost all non-profit hospitals, as they are required to provide care regardless of an uninsured individual\u2019s ability to pay Davis noted. With many hospitals already redlining, they will likely depend on increased government funding to foot the bill.<\/p>\n

Sarah Worthington heads a healthcare non-profit called\u00a0Prince of Peace Center<\/a>\u00a0in northwest Pennsylvania and has already experienced what it feels like to be waiting for government funding to provide the care her neighbors need.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew funding was coming, but it was delayed,\u201d said Worthington. \u201cIt was held up in the state budget impasse this past year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

On top of delays in needed funding, the temporary closure last year of a critical hospital in the area near Sharon, Pa. made the future of her region\u2019s healthcare and social services shaky, Worthington recalled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were preparing,\u201d she said. \u201cEverybody was on pins and needles, waiting to see what the outcome was going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it has since reopened, Worthington noted that the center now only provides access to \u2018\u2019very limited services.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, instead of solely relying on government funding, Worthington finds resourceful ways to still provide for those in her community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI never want to tell somebody that we\u2019re out of money and can\u2019t help them,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, we try to be creative and find other ways to fundraise and bring in the dollars here to be able to support our community in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Launched in May of this year, Walking with Moms in Need is Prince of Peace\u2019s newest program, which aims to provide care for both pregnant and young mothers. Filling a gap created by the closure of two other similar social services in the area, the program is now successfully providing 40 mothers with needed transportation, maternity products, and housing every month.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Davis still holds concerns for the future of rural healthcare and healthcare coverage, she has faith that these Pennsylvania communities will pull through.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRural communities and rural residents tend to be able to identify ways in which is they create opportunities and they create successes in their communities,\u201d Davis said, \u201cRegardless of any sort of support that comes from external sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julia Kramer is an intern reporter for The Center Square<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) \u2013 Residents of rural Pennsylvania continue to face obstacles to receiving healthcare as new Medicaid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-267103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}