XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   From: wasteful@losers.invalid   
      
   SILEX, Missouri — A bold new billboard near the shuttering Silex   
   Wellness Center reads: “UNDER TRUMP’S WATCH, THE SILEX CENTER IS CLOSING   
   ITS DOORS.”   
      
   The sign is part of a national campaign by the Democratic National   
   Committee (DNC) targeting rural communities where hospitals are closing   
   or cutting services following passage of the GOP’s 2025 reconciliation   
   package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB).   
      
   A day before President Trump signed the bill into law on July 4, the   
   Silex Center in Lincoln County announced it would close.   
      
   In Missouri, the warning hits home. According to new research from   
   Washington University in St. Louis, the state will lose approximately   
   $10.9 billion in Medicaid hospital funding under the bill. A newly   
   created rural hospital fund is projected to cover only 71.6% of those   
   cuts, leaving more than $3 billion in unfunded need.   
      
   “Rural hospitals were already on the brink of collapse thanks to Donald   
   Trump, but now he has put the last nail in the coffin,” DNC Chair Ken   
   Martin said. “It’s Trump’s own voters who will suffer the most.”   
      
   The DNC’s billboard directs viewers to a website labeled "Trump Tax" and   
   argues that the legislation constitutes a betrayal of the very   
   communities that helped elect the former president.   
      
   "If you’re not a billionaire, you’re getting screwed over," the website   
   says.   
      
   But now, Sen. Josh Hawley, who cast the deciding vote in favor of the   
   OBBB, says he’s working to undo parts of it.   
      
   On July 15, Hawley introduced the Protect Medicaid and Rural Hospitals   
   Act, which would repeal upcoming changes to Medicaid provider taxes,   
   rescind reductions in directed payments to hospitals, double the rural   
   hospital fund to $100 billion, and extend its lifespan from five to ten   
   years.   
      
   “President Trump has always said we have to protect Medicaid for working   
   people. Now is the time to prevent any future cuts to Medicaid from   
   going into effect,” Hawley said in a news release. “Under the recent   
   reconciliation bill, Missouri will see an extra $1 billion for hospitals   
   over the next four years.”   
      
   However, health care analysts dispute that figure.   
      
   “When Josh Hawley is saying that he has brought home a billion dollars   
   to Missouri for rural hospitals, that is just, you know, plainly not   
   true,” said Emily Gee, a health economist and former Obama-era official   
   at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “There’s no   
   guarantee that that will be the slice of the pie that Missouri gets.”   
      
   The rural hospital fund created by the OBBB requires states to apply for   
   competitive grants. Half of the funds are distributed evenly among   
   states regardless of need, and the other half is controlled at the   
   discretion of CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz with no requirement for public   
   disclosure or review.   
      
   In an earlier interview with CNN, Hawley acknowledged flaws in the   
   legislation he voted for: “There are aspects of it I didn't like, and I   
   think these future cuts to hospitals with Medicaid is a mistake. So I   
   said when I voted for it, I said I'm going to try to reverse these.   
   That's exactly what I'm doing."   
      
   But critics say that’s too little, too late.   
      
   At a recent press event where Hawley was celebrating the bill's passage,   
   Five On Your Side’s political editor Mark Maxwell pressed Hawley: "You   
   built something of a national soapbox saying that cuts to Medicaid would   
   be morally wrong, politically suicidal... How do you think voters in   
   Missouri feel hearing you say all that and then vote for it anyway?"   
      
   “Well, I hope that they… recognize they're gonna get a billion dollars   
   more,” Hawley replied.   
      
   Policy experts counter that the CBO projects a trillion-dollar national   
   cut to Medicaid under OBBB and that the work requirements alone are   
   likely to knock thousands of Missourians off their health insurance. A   
   2019 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that similar   
   policies in Arkansas led to “a significant loss of Medicaid coverage…   
   (with) no significant changes in employment.”   
      
   In Missouri, more than 1.2 million residents rely on Medicaid, including   
      
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