We knew this was coming. As soon as we saw the cuts in the Big Ugly Bill, we knew what was going to happen. But it seems that Republicans don’t care. Well, they’re the ones who made the cuts in the first place. A lot of red states are in serious trouble. From Politico via AlterNet:
President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy law’s cuts to Medicaid are already wreaking havoc on rural hospitals — particularly in some of the reddest states. One Senate Republican is already fearing that the backlash from voters could require an intervention. According to a Monday report in Politico, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) predicted that Republicans may soon have to go back to the drawing board to rework H.R. 1 (“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) in order to preserve hundreds of rural hospitals across the country.
Gee, ya think? People knew this all along and didn’t care. Cuts needed to be made to support Trump’s hated, now permanent, rich people tax breaks. Therefore, cuts were made. And they are hurting so many places and so many people. Of course, the bill passed the Senate and became even more bloated, then the House … just … passed it AS IS. Thank you, Joni Ernst. This is on you for voting yes in the Senate. Yours was the vote to get it out of the Senate and then to the House. You had your chance to say no, and you didn’t. (Bitter? Who, me?)
“As the implications of the bill become better known, I think there’s going to be tremendous pressure to change the law,” Collins told the World Medical Innovation Forum (which was attended by numerous healthcare executives) in Boston, Massachusetts. “But we’re going to need the evidence, the stories, the research that didn’t occur,” she continued. “… People who didn’t get the care in time because they were diagnosed only when they showed up at your emergency room, rather than by a primary care physician.”
HELLO. I hope she voted against the BBB because this would be on her, too. If not, she deserves to be called out for it. I can understand needing the research. But there’s a chance people could DIE because they don’t have a hospital anywhere close. Those rural hospitals are truly needed. There’s no way the need for them could be overblown or only given lip service like Susan is trying to do. They are *needed*. But with the cuts to Medicaid, well, it seems they aren’t needed “enough”. Why don’t these people actually LOOK at what they’re about to sign?
Trump’s massive tax and spending law could close as many as 338 rural hospitals that overwhelmingly rely on Medicaid patients to stay open, according to research from the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Collins — who is both the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – is presumed to be running for a sixth term in the U.S. Senate. And because Maine has a Democratic governor and voted for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in 2024, Collins could be in for a particularly tough fight with several Democratic challengers already having declared their campaigns.
Oh, yes. *If* she is running, she had better be prepared to fight. We can see what’s coming down the pike, and it’s a possible blue wave coming at her. But that isn’t relevant right now to the topic. Rural hospitals don’t need to close. They need to be supported. And right, they aren’t being supported. What a mess that could have been avoided. And a whole lot of “told you so(s).”
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thanks. Ursula
Nope, Susan Collins did not vote for the BBB.
Oh, my, after voting FOR two of the least qualified SCOTUS Justices in history, and hearing the disapproval of her constituents, the “good” senator from Down East backed away from rubber-stamping the potentially most damaging legislation in our history. IMHO, too little, too late…
Trump’s BBB .. ill board … ugh!
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Collins is just as guilty. The justices she helped put on the court have sanctioned the death of millions and the potential end of our democracy. FACT.
And if a few hospitals close, they can gather data and just re-open them, right?
What a crock.
Data already exists. GOP cuts to Medicaid and Medicare over time have in fact resulted in rural/small-town hospitals. Also, remember when DOGE got going and started mucking around? We saw a rash of it earlier this year. GOPers that voted for the BBB KNEW the consequences but were so afraid of Trump (him getting them primaried out of office) they went along. As with overturning Roe they figured there’d be some outrage for a month or so then people would move on. They learned the hard way that voters, even in RED states vehemently disagreed with what SCOTUS did on abortion, and their own legislators passing even more restrictions. That anger is still out there all this time later.
Voters told GOPers they didn’t like some of the provisions in the BBB and in particular the effects it would have on health care. So much of America is already underserved and with a new fiscal year about to start at the end of this month by the end of this calendar year the effects will become all too clear. It will only get worse in 2026 and few GOP Congress Critters will be immune. The anger at Town Halls and district offices hasn’t been limited to Epstein! It’s clear voters including red state voters see what’s coming and who is to blame. In this case when it comes time to vote, even though Trump won’t be on the ballot voters will ALSO blame a lot of the GOPers who voted for his BBB.
Any GOP House member or Senator that won by less than double digits has reason to worry. Those that won by less than say five percent are in deep shit. Many will somehow manage to survive but some will not. I’m not anywhere near ready to say what kind of margin we will wind up with in the House. What I’m going to be watching closely will be the Senate. Normally, even in a midterm when a President’s Party can expect to lose seats the GOP’s margin would seem insurmountable given their geographic advantage. However for 2026 there’s an actual chance Democrats could regain control. Not a large chance to be sure, at least not yet. However it’s not some wistful dream either. THIS is the issue that could turn the tide. Blue state Senators can hold on if they use this effectively, and Red state Senators will have to defend their votes with a lot of people in those small town/rural areas angry over seeing their local hospitals closed. Or those who haven’t seeing THERE hospitals suddenly overwhelmed by out-of-towners.
And it’s not just hospitals. It will affect medical providers who depend on Medicaid patients to keep practices afloat. How many will retire or move on? For those that try to hang in there there’s an extra hit they will have to deal with. No local hospital will mean matters that could be treated routinely no longer will be so. Getting treatment thirty or more miles away will mean some don’t get the care they need, or as quickly as they should. This will affect medical outcomes. With THAT comes an increase in malpractice premiums. One more reason for doctors to leave. That will put nurses out of work, and other staff. The ripple effects are going to be huge and could well turn into a WAVE. A Blue one.
You put way too much trust in our population to pay attention and act accordingly. I have no faith in that 240 year ILLUSION. Our citizens are stupid, self serving, arrogant, pleasure seeking assholes. If not, please explain Trump. Now the nazi pissant Kirk, who claimed, amongst many evil statements, that black women are morons, is getting medals and statues. Too bad you racist shitpoke, if you’d lived…tsk tsk tsk, I would bet your pampered ass wouldnt say that to my face. I have black daughters.
H.L. Mencken was an egotistic asshole but he was a good reporter who actually made an effort to learn about common folks even though he looked down on them. He had some penetrating quotes that have stood the test of time and one in particular comes to mind: Democracy is the theory that the common man knows what he wants. And deserves to get it good and hard.
There’s another more winding one about how the people would wind up being so gullible and self-absorbed they wouldn’t pay attention and wind up with a government of idiots.
I’ve written in the past about the stupidity of voters who want a ‘regular guy’ or at least someone who truly likes and enjoys the company of ‘regular people’ in the WH. Remember how Bush 43 was played up as a guy you’d like to have a beer with? He actually DID enjoy hanging out with fans in the stands at Texas Ranger baseball games when he ran the franchise. Those years were probably the most enjoyable of his life. But it’s my contention that we don’t need an average person in the WH or even Congress. We need MUCH more. We need extraordinarily talented, hardworking and intelligent people. The higher the office the more we SHOULD expect. I’m reminded of a scene from The West Wing where the Deputy Chief of Staff sent his assistant to a seminar of some self-help “guru” who was on the GOP candidate’s team. The GOP candidate is analagous to baby Bush:
Sadly, re-electing Bush in 2004 and worse Trump in 2016 and 2004 provides an appalling answer to Josh’s question. Yes, enough Americans are willing to accept less and in fact FAR less of the person sitting in the Oval Office than should be the case. The 20th century is already known in the history books as ‘The American Century’ and will always be regarded as such.
Baby Bush getting in via the electoral college fluke and by the slimmest margin ever seemed like an “oops.” The free world crossed its fingers and hoped that poppy Bush’s people would keep the ship of state on a steady course. Four years later when Bush won both the popular and electoral vote (not by much, but enough) the common headline around the world was variations on the theme “how can so many millions of Americans be so STUPID?’
He was our ‘Mulligan’ with the free world. They were horrified (as were over half of Americans) Trump even got the nomination, much less rode the same EC fluke Bush did into office. When Biden resoundingly beat his ass in 2020 they held out hopes that we might wind up finding our way back to being the U.S. we were in the 20th century. That’s all gone now. Our closest allies and the free world know they can no longer count on the U.S. That everything will be up for grabs every four years and worse our enemies know it too.
Our strongest allies are working to create a world order in which the U.S. might at times have a seat at the table but will no longer be able to dictate terms. Or even be taken seriously. It will take generations to restore actual long-term trust and that’s only IF we get our shit together and with conservatism what the FBI and other autorities did with the Klan when we were much younger – drive it back towards or into the shadows, caves and under slimy rocks. Like some viruses it can never be fully eradicated and with the right conditions flourish again BUT if we are vigilant it can be largely contained.
You and I are getting old now so all we can do is provide enough leadership and inspiration to younger generations to do the hard work that needs to be done.
I want to believe SSJ’s comment, “You put way too much trust in our population to pay attention and act accordingly. I have no faith in that 240 year ILLUSION. Our citizens are stupid, self serving, arrogant, pleasure seeking assholes” is in error, but I can’t refute it.
I want to believe the shallow people he describes are a minority of the electorate, but I fear they aren’t a small enough part to be ineffective.
Another aspect to the issue is greed — something for nothing. I saw a TikTok video the other day from a North Carolina woman who ran for a statewide agriculture bureau office in which she explained why farmers there went for Drumpf in 2024 even after the damage his first term trade wars did to their businesses — it came down to Washington building agriculture recovery funds into federal spending bills., and the farmers thought they’d get the same funds this time around, too (SURPRISE!!! That cupboard is bare!!!) She also pointed out that most of the “family” farms are nonetheless million-dollar enterprises, far from the “little guy” images they’ve created.
Regarding AlterNet you’re quoting from – I can’t get their site to work properly – half the story links don’t do anything, including the t’s & c’s for a newsletter or something, and I can’t Contact them to ask them because that link won’t work either! Anyone any idea why this is, & is it only me?!