The Next Threat to Rural Healthcare Isn’t the Big Beautiful Bill – RedState

The Democrats decided to want to make The One Big Beautiful Bill their main point of campaign discussion in 2026. They think that by focusing on the Medicaid cups, they can scare voters from the Republican Party and return to them for the Middle.

One of their development points is how Medicaid Cuts could have an impact on rural hospitals. But Democrats are also the great supporters of the abolition of the 340B medication program on which these same hospitals count, and they do not lift their finger to prevent large pharmaceutical companies from trying to empty it as they can.

What’s really going on

Five large pharmaceutical companies – Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Sanofi – push to fundamentally change the way rural hospitals obtain reduced medication. Instead of obtaining initial discounts via the 340B federal program, these companies wish to move to a “discount model” where hospitals first pay the price, then wait for pharmaceutical companies to reimburse them later.

Does it look like a scam? This is because it is the case.

The figures do not lie

A new national survey of 340B Health shows how devastating this change would be. The average critical access hospital – It is small rural hospitals with 25 or less beds that serve communities across Louisiana and the rest of rural America – should float additional $ 1.7 million per year to pharmaceutical companies.

Think about it for a minute. Rural hospitals that already operate on thin margins of razors should suddenly offer nearly $ 2 million in cash in advance, then wait for pharmaceutical companies to process their refund requests “using their own criteria and calendars”.

For the biggest hospitals, the figures are even more astounding. Disproportionate action hospitals will face an average annual burden of $ 72.2 million.

Administrative nightmare

But it gets worse. These discount regimes do not only create cash flow problems – they pour new massive administrative costs into hospitals that can make them least. Hospitals should hire additional staff to manage documents, comply with the requirements of the pharmaceutical company and fight for discounts when companies inevitably refuse legitimate allegations.

The results of the survey are brutal:

• 77% of hospitals said that these discount models would compromise their ability to keep their doors open

• 92% would be forced to reduce free and reduced drugs they provide in their pharmacies

• 86% expect layoffs And the hiring of gels

Near the place where I live in Rural Louisiana, where hospitals are often among the three main employers in their communities, it is not only a health care crisis. It is an economic disaster that awaits to occur.

The political angle political

Democrats have completely abandoned rural America on this issue. They are so busy scoring political points against the major bill on the major bill that they ignore the aggression of the allies of their pharmaceutical industry against rural health care.

Meanwhile, the media, which make auction of democrats 24/7, only covers rural health problems when they can use them to attack the Republicans. A real threat from the large pharmacy to rural hospitals? Crickets.

This analysis is simple: health Resources and Services Administration blocked these regimes, correctly determining that they violate federal law. But pharmaceutical companies retaliate in court, and they have the resources to continue to push until they arrive.

When a rural hospital closes, it doesn’t just mean emergencies, although it is certainly not life. This means that one of the greatest employers in the community disappears. This means that young people leave for places with better health care. This means that the values of the properties fall and that companies move.

By using economic models from the American Hospital Association, each employee of the Rural Hospital contributes $ 200,000 per year to his local economy. A 300 -employee hospital contributes $ 60 million a year to its rural community.

Now imagine trying to operate these figures when pharmaceutical companies essentially require millions of uninteresting loans from hospitals which already have trouble keeping the lights on.

End

The evidence is clear: I do not make radical demands on the provisions of Medicaid of the major bill and their potential challenges for rural health care. The rural health transformation fund of $ 50 billion is designed to respond to some of these concerns, although we will see how effective it is.

But while Washington cares about the work requirements of Medicaid which could affect rural hospitals on the road, Big Pharma is actively working to destroy rural health care at the moment. And they count on anyone paying attention.

The 340B program is not perfect – no federal program is. But it is a life buoy for rural hospitals that serve patients that no one else wants to treat. If we let pharmaceutical companies make it another profit center, we will lose more than hospitals. We will lose entire communities.

It is time to call this what is: the greed of companies pretending to reform health care. And it’s time to stop it before it is too late.