The ‘big, beautiful’ bill will cut more than $1tn from the health plan, with rural hospitals feeling the brunt of it

The road to four struggling rural hospitals now hosts a political message: “If this hospital closes, blame Trump.”

In a series of black-and-yellow billboards erected near the facilities, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seeks to tell voters in deep red states “who is responsible for gutting rural healthcare”.

“UNDER TRUMP’S WATCH, STILWELL GENERAL HOSPITAL IS CLOSING ITS DOORS,” one sign screams. The billboards are outside hospitals in Silex, Missouri; Columbus, Indiana; Stilwell, Oklahoma; and Missoula, Montana.

The fate of rural hospitals has become a politically contentious issue for Republicans, as historic cuts pushed through by the GOP are expected to come into effect over the next decade. Trump’s enormous One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) cut more than $1tn from Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, insuring more than 71 million adults.

  • @[email protected]
    8•9 days ago

    This is a good idea. I hope it helps somehow, buuuut… I live near one of these, and I don’t have much hope. The brainwashing and propaganda and lifelong indoctrination is too strong. It’s stil extremelyl important to try, though. Even if it wakes up a single person to the truths of the situation, that’s a positive.

    • @[email protected]English
      4•8 days ago

      This is indeed an important step.

      One of the biggest failures of the Democratic party over the past 20 years was the complete abandonment of some “red” areas. After winning with the 50-state strategy in 2008, they just abandoned it. They wouldn’t run candidates in some congressional elections, let alone local ones. Pelosi prevented most congress people from going on Fox News for years, etc.

      This made the Rove-inspired painting of the Democratic party as “elite”, “coastal”, “urban” etc etc much easier for OP-aligned messengers.

      While the Democratic party policies are usually more beneficial to most citizens than GOP policies, it’s not a surprise many voters still felt like the Democratic party was not theirs.