Others are fighting for their lives. Rural communities across Texas have felt the impact of hospital closures for more than a decade now. When a rural hospital closes, local residents lose access to routine, preventative care, not to mention emergency services that can save life and limb. Doctors and other highly trained professionals move away. Then people must drive a hundred miles or more in some cases to get the care city dwellers take for granted.
Local economies suffer when jobs are lost.
Existing businesses may have to move, and new businesses won't locate in places where health care is unavailable. Hospital closure can be a death-knell for struggling towns. Until now, Medicare has provided annual increases in payments to make up for increased hospital costs due to inflation. But hospitals are no longer going to receive that annual inflation adjustment. To address this looming crisis, I am introducing legislation to restore some of the planned rollbacks in Medicare payments to health-care facilities.