This new $50 billion rural hospital slush fund isn’t what patients need.
Congress has handed hospital giants a new line of taxpayer-funded credit. This summer, Congress included a $50 billion “rural health fund” in the multitrillion-dollar One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The fund’s supporters are touting it as a lifeline for struggling community hospitals. But small-town emergency rooms will not be the primary beneficiaries. Instead, politically connected hospital systems that know how to game federal programs will clean up.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Big hospitals are gaming the rural healthcare system, and Congress is helping
Sally C. Pipes
This new $50 billion rural hospital slush fund isn’t what patients need.
Congress has handed hospital giants a new line of taxpayer-funded credit. This summer, Congress included a $50 billion “rural health fund” in the multitrillion-dollar One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The fund’s supporters are touting it as a lifeline for struggling community hospitals. But small-town emergency rooms will not be the primary beneficiaries. Instead, politically connected hospital systems that know how to game federal programs will clean up.
Read the entire op-ed.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.