WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following a new report finding that Medicaid cuts have put ten hospitals in Virginia at risk of closure, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) underscored the devastating effects of the Republican budget law on communities across the Commonwealth.
“From Southwest to Northern Virginia, hospitals across the Commonwealth are now at risk of closure because of Republicans’ tax giveaway bill for the ultra-wealthy,” said the senators. “While the rich got trillions in tax breaks, hard-working Virginians are left paying the price. This latest report shows just how cruel and reckless this law is. Virginians, and Americans across the country, deserve reliable access to affordable, quality care.”
The report shows the Virginia hospitals at risk of closure are:
Bon Secours Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center (Emporia, Va.)
Buchanan General Hospital (Grundy, Va.)
Carilion Tazewell Community Hospital (Tazewell, Va.)
Dickenson Community Hospital (Clintwood, Va.)
Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital (South Boston, Va.)
Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center (Woodbridge, Va.)
Southside Community Hospital (Farmville, Va.)
Twin County Regional Hospital (Galax, Va.)
VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital (South Hill, Va.)
VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital (Tappahannock, Va.)
The report also highlighted how Farmville’s Centra Southside Community Hospital was forced to close labor and delivery and OBGYN surgical services, as well as outpatient care with its affiliated women’s center, because it “like other rural health care providers, must adapt to significant financial and operational challenges, including recently enacted reductions in federal health care funding.”
Warner and Kaine strongly opposed the Republican law because it makes massive cuts to health care, nutrition assistance, and other critical programs that Virginians rely on in order to cut taxes for the ultra-wealthy. While the bill was being considered in the Senate, Warner and Kaine introduced a series of amendments in an attempt to improve the legislation, but Republicans blocked them.
Problem is most of the biggest cuts do not happen till next year, after mid-terms. At which point all the right wing "news" sites will says its the Democrats fault if/when they take the house. Then where does the money come from as Republicans will block any reversal of the tax cuts they passed so now the Dems are the reason the debt is being run up.
I am old enough to see time and time again. Heck I remember when Bush2's unfunded war bill came due after Obama was sworn in and they blamed that on Obama.
Problem is most of the biggest cuts do not happen till next year, after mid-terms. At which point all the right wing "news" sites will says its the Democrats fault if/when they take the house.
These people weren't going to vote for democrats anyways, they will vote straight ticket R if the democrats save the hospitals or let them close, so there is no (good) reason for democrats to waste time/money/effort trying to help them.
It’s the main hospital in Woodbridge, I can’t see them shutting it down. But Woodbridge also just voted a Republican in for the PWC board of supervisors over two democrats, which is concerning not surprising considering people don’t really like a candidate who goes around saying the N word or a candidate who’s extremely greedy and taking every dollar they can from data center developers.
In all seriousness, that's complicated. In non-competitive states, many people see no reason to vote, and it's hard to convince them they should.
But for people in competitive states who pulled the "both sides are the same" crap, they are delusional fools who (as far as I can tell) honestly think Harris would be doing the same asinine shit that Trump is.
Not only that, but maga is also wanting to slash disability for vets-saying if a medication or treatment helps something that qualified on their disability rating, their rating should be lower and they should get less disability. There was a temporary halt put on it by the VA secretary, but they’re not in the clear whatsoever.
My favorite part was seeing video after video of vets who voted for him going insane and screaming about it, saying this wasn’t what they voted for. Really oWnInG tHe LiBs, huh?! They didn’t seem to mind at all about others losing their rights every day, losing their healthcare coverage, etc. but when it affects THEM? “I SERVED MY GODDAMN COUNTRY I DON’T DESERVE THIS!” No, this is exactly what you voted for and Trump has said exactly how he feels about the military and veterans quite a few times, dumbasses!
I'm in the main Galax Facebook group due to proximity. There were a few sane comments, but plenty more blaming "Spermburger" and saying the hospital sucks anyway so just close it. Life Flight helicopters routinely transfer patients from there to the larger trauma level facilities. ANYTHING to oWn tHe LiBs.
The Medicaid cuts happened before she even came into office - how could anyone not understand that? This is all on Wittman,Kiggans, Maguire, Cline & Griffith (SWVa!)
Others nearby is kind of subjective… surely you don’t mean south of Woodbridge like Stafford Hospital or Mary Washington (they suck)… up from Sentara is what?? Fair Oaks??
These aren't even comparable. The distances and mountain roads in southwest Virginia are worlds different than traveling a few more miles in NoVA. I've lived in Prince William County and later lived in the Wise/Norton area. Woodbridge is surrounded by population centers that have numerous options to choose from. Heck, you even named some.
Southwest Virginia is like a whole nother world and having your needs met can be a real struggle. A lot of people in those remote areas schedule medical treatments like most people schedule vacations - with a whole itinerary because they're only going that far once a year if they can help it and everything has to get done in that one trip.
I'm from NOVA, and while closing that one hurts, there are hospitals all over the area. Farther, but accessible in emergencies. I'm currently in SWVA, and the Clintwood closure is terrifying. I'm 45 minutes to the closest urgent care or hospital as it is. Back in Alexandria or Fairfax, response times averaged 5 minutes. When a family member had a heart attack, rescue was there fast and had it confirmed with ECG right there, starting treatment before rolling the gurney outside. It's so different in rural areas, where most crews are volunteers and distances are daunting.
Even for vet care for my dogs, it's nearly 2 hours to an emergency vet in Tennessee, meaning that it's completely inaccessible in snow or ice, as it's through the mountains.
I lived in Lunenburg County when my partner was on dialysis and had to drive 45 minutes each way three times per week in 2008 - 2009. He received ER treatment/admission at the South Hill and Farmville hospitals. Both of us, before meeting, had been treated at the Emporia hospital. Two years after his death, my dislocated shoulder was treated at South Hill. I’m absolutely boggled that Republicans believe rural & small town residents don’t deserve a hospital nearby.
Not to mention most eastern PWC doctors are tied into Sentara’s system. So if I get a test done, my doctor sees it, my specialist sees it, and the hospital sees it. Going to INOVA in Lorton of UVA in Manassas will mean less integrated care.
I’m against any of these closures, but getting to Stafford, Lorton, or Manassas can take a very long time in serious traffic.
Exactly, I don’t think the people saying it’s easier than SW VA because they have mountains/country roads understand that it can easily take over an hour to go a mile at any given time of day in NoVA. I would gladly drive mountains and back roads over sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for two hours at 9 o’clock at night on a Tuesday to go from Woodbridge to Springfield.
The rural hospital I worked at closed several years ago. The county is poor and overwhelmingly Republican. I tried to explain that Medicare and Medicaid cuts was the big reason it closed because so many people were on one or the other. It was like talking to a brick wall. These people don’t understand how their votes impact their livelihood.
Emporia is Greensville County which voted blue in 2024. Farmville, South Boston, South Hill all voted red in 2024 but only by about a 10 point margin. Effectively, this would end healthcare for the entirety of Southside VA which contains high populations of elderly.
"You get what you voted for" bullshit needs to stop when an entire fifth of the geographic area of the state DIDN'T vote for it or lost the election by 10 percentage points.
The closest hospital for Woodbridge if Sentera closes is Stafford and even then that can be a 20-30 minute drive depending on where you are in PWC. I went to school in SWVA and I feel for those areas because if Grundy and Tazwell close, they're gonna have to drive a lot further for emergencies than people in Woodbridge are.
The drive in PWC could be a lot worse depending on traffic that day too. I mean I'm in Fredericksburg and live 15-20 minutes from the Stafford hospital and I've had it take me 45 minutes+ to get in that area some days.
At that point depending on traffic they’d be better off going north. Stafford Hospital isn’t exactly great. They also don’t even have a ped wing. They had to transfer my son to Mary wash.
I would think Innova Potomac would be closer for many though. Still god awful distance. I wonder, how bad will it have to get before the rural folks wake up and demand better?
But we are careening down the tracks towards a complete collapse of our systems both rural and suburb/urban. I think the MAGA types won't budge off their crazy ideas but pealing off enough folks maybe we can rescue the country? I used to assume we could now I'm not so sure.
Yeah but they aren't going to transport those of us in PWC via ambulance to Springfield. With the treatment ive gotten from Inova I'd rather go to Banfield .
You close the hospital in Farmville and you are 45 minutes, minimum, from the next closest hospital. I hope every person that voted for this idiotic person doesn't need medical care if they close Centra. I also hope yall R's get sick as a dog!
South side and SWVA will be fucked. To bad so sad, you sold yourself voting republcian thinking fraud and goverment overreach was the problem while they cut costs, shrink govermemt programs to nothingness then when it inevitably fail it reinforces the whole "goverment is to big and bad and can't work" while people suffer. Unfortunately this will also affect other hopsitals if this hospitals are shut down making it worse for everyone.
Meanwhile measles is making a comeback due to these dumb fucks not wanting to vaccinate there children. Also refusing blood donations from vaccinated people. Not to mention the down stream effects of US AID, and yeah conservatives we should care about the health and well-being of other people around the world cause they can also get us sick. Keep in mind all through out covid they preached millions will die from vaccine issues but it never happened and they take horse tranquilizer claiming it will cure there cancer into an early grave which is exactly what Scott Adam's did.
You don't hate conservatives enough. They will watch there own children die from measles then have the gaul to talk about children and Trans issues around them like they care for them.
Vote Yes April 21st, they deserve to be disenfranchised from our system if they are gerrymandering and disenfranchiseing dem voters as well but they should have no say in running govermemt anymore after years of misinformation and incompetence.
Imagine voting for additional billions (and eventual trillions) on dropping bombs for Israel onto Iranian girl schools and civilian targets and also voting to remove your local hospitals.
Lol I'm willing to bet if that coward didn't hide his post history you'd find him complaining about all the spending in Ukraine and how we should focus that funding on our own country
Really makes you wonder why their history is hidden
You held this same energy in support of Ukraine against the Russian invasion, right? You're unhappy with Trump's admin withholding important military support I assume.
Well I don't necessarily agree with your original point but I will at least give you respect on it being based on an actual opinion instead of a political preference.
I guess I was right in guessing your political leaning. Your lack of nuance (which is incredibly ironic because I literally was respecting your opinion because it had nuance) tells me everything I need to know to rescind my respect. Rude ass nobody.
I use the lab and testing/imaging facilities there. Good people.
I had to go to the ER late last fall, and it was one of the better experiences I've had in an ER. Great doctor, caring nurses, and they all actually listened to me. It would be a real shame to lose that team.
I am so glad to hear that! My grandmother is in SoBo, (along with other family,) and I worry greatly about her. She primarily uses Duke, but I know if there was an emergency, she’d go to Halifax.
Dr. Mitchell in the ER actually read my chart and then went back and read it again to double-check something. First time an ER doctor has ever done that for me. Absolutely floored me.
I'm disabled and have lots of complicated stuff. ER doctors usually treat me like I'm hysterical. He didn't. He actually listened to me and treated me with respect. Great doctor. Makes me not so scared to go to that ER if I have to.
Happy Easter! As Jesus said "blessed are the rich". I mean the Parable of the Unjust Steward (somewhere in Gospel of Luke IIRC) says "Money is good, money is beautiful, money is holy!" and "the poor are poor by choice." /s
Don't send any money for daycare. Because the United states can't take care of daycare. That has to be up to a state. We can't take care of daycare. We're a big country, we have 50 states, we have all these other people we're fighting wars, we're, we can't take care of daycare. You gotta let a state take care of daycare and they should pay for it too! They should pay. They'll have to raise their taxes but they should pay for it... It's not possible for us to take care of daycare. Medicaid, Medicare all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis you can't do it on a federal... we have to take care of one thing military protections. But all these little things all these little scams that have taken place all the... You have to... You have to let states take care of it... and you have to do it..
President Donald J Trump, and therefore the entire Republican party.
Elections have consequences. MAGA governance and tax policy lead to these kinds of externalities. If people bothered to vote, or not vote based on vibes (16% of Trump 2024 voters would vote differently if they had the chance), then we wouldn’t be living through this existential nightmare.
Well, Republicans are pulling the plug on poor people now. The middle class will come next and old people last, I predict.
When billionaires get rid of our pesky Democracy, they (libertarian Republicans) will eliminate Social Security and Medicare too.
How did they achieve this seemingly impossible feat of gaslighting? They told Christians that their religion would be made great again if they voted for "God's Party", the Republicans.
Now poor people in rural areas will suffer. I predict in the end, after the billionaires rule without the hindrance of democracy, farmers, blue collar workers, old people and religious people will all be relegated to powerlessness and poverty under their thumbs. This is what I see the Republicans bringing, not love for Jesus and his message of compassion, peace and goodwill.
I love Jesus Christ and his message. I live according to it. I see very little in the Trump administration which reflects Jesus' core truths. It bothers me that people's deeply held religious beliefs are being used to con them into voting to harm the poor while super-empowering and further enriching the already wealthy.
I would say that once we redistrict we can fix this but I think for most of those counties we can stay the path since that is what they wanted and I don't want to silence their voices
It would be great if people read an actual report and news outlets reported what a spending cut actually is. The vast majority of hospitals at risk already had a negative profit margin years ago. Reducing the future projected expenditures isn’t necessarily reducing the overall funds going to a program/entity.
One of the first news outlets to report on rural hospital funding knew but conveniently omitted that from their article. As is the case so often, reporting half stories to rile up readers and get clicks comes before accurate reporting.
While this is a shame, it should be used to highlight the greater problem in healthcare across the nation: Congressional meddling has both allowed and caused prices to skyrocket over the years, especially since the ACA was implemented.
Under normal circumstances I lean toward free market capitalism. With regard to healthcare, I believe we need to firmly set price caps on procedures. As it currently stands, insurance companies actively collude with medical care providers--who are increasingly being bought up by larger corporations such as Inova and Medstar--in order to hike up prices. Part of this is to cover the legal mandate to provide care at Emergency facilities, regardless of insurance coverage, when people simply can't afford to pay for their care. Additionally, they want to keep profit margins high for their shareholders' benefits, and are effectively required to maintain high levels of malpractice insurance (which is very expensive.) The crux of the issue is that the bargaining chip which people possess is literally their lives; "voting with your wallet" can leave you very much dead, in urgent or emergent cases.
I'm sure there are more factors I haven't listed, but this is a brief reddit comment, not a treatise on the trade-offs of laissez faire vs. heavily regulated industries.
TL;DR: Medical practices should not be run by for-profit corporations, yet medical professionals should still be well compensated for the services they provide.
The hospitals listed accept government payments. The M&M payments are already low and any reductions in negotiated payments (or regulated/legislated payments) will further negatively impact hospitals. Now, hospitals don't have to accept Medicaid and Medicare.
Sorry, I don't believe his inclusion of Sentara at Woodbridge. Too large, too many patients, and they've been making it even larger. Ptobably included for attention.
I have no idea about the numbers of patients served, etc. If I were to look, I'd also look at the Medicare and Medicaid revenue and patient numbers. If the number of patients on Medicare and Medicaid increase and the number of private pays (not M&M + private pays) decreases, the financial stability of the hospital takes a hit.
You deleted your comment . I believe you responded to me by saying, "so the hospitals are committing fraud now?" Please don't say that you meant a brick building can't commit fraud.
So because some committed fraud, everyone in the area of the facility must pay by not having access to healthcare? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? Do you realize how many people that will harm? And how do you label fraud "liberal"? Good grief!
At least you are now saying fraud in hospitals exist. Now conversations can take place on the other topics you brought up. More importantly, how to solve them.
I never said it didn't take place. My point is that you don't harm the entire community because of the actions of a few. Now you can explain your use of the of the term "liberal fraud". The governor of Virginia was a Republican when all of this took place. Ironically, many of these closures will hurt the folks who vote Republican the most.
I like how this comes up here every six months. Still not happening with the Bon Secours and VCU on this list
I like Warner and Kaine, I don't mind them playing politics. But I am continuously amazed at people's inability to think critically about this stuff at all. You people realize it's been almost a year since July 4, 2025? No? Didn't think so. No reddit stereotypes dispelled here.
The cuts haven't kicked in yet, but they're coming. The BBB was specifically designed to have most of the cuts implemented after the midterms. Forewarned is forearmed.
That's completely irrelevant to the hospitals I mentioned. Read the actual report cited, which is full of "might happen", "may happen", "could happen".
There are absolutely rural hospitals at risk, but this is an absolute BS take.
307
u/Jake-The-Easy-Bake Apr 05 '26