Senate Republicans are working on provisions in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to provide funding for financially struggling rural hospitals to ease concerns from some colleagues that hospitals in their states could close if the bill becomes law, Bloomberg reported June 18.
Seven things to know:
1. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is working with members of his party to find a solution that would ensure financially vulnerable hospitals aren’t put at risk by the legislation’s Medicaid cuts, according to the report.
2. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said lawmakers are looking at creating a special fund to mitigate the effects of the proposed Medicaid cuts.
3. Maine Sen. Susan Collins said she is looking at whether legislators will be open to a provider relief fund for rural hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers. Her proposal is based on an existing emergency fund relief model for states that she helped develop in 2023.
4. Florida Sen. Rick Scott said he believes the White House, through CMS, could issue regulations that distribute funds to rural and teaching hospitals. Sending funds through executive action, rather than as part of the bill, would keep its overall costs down.
5. Republican leaders are seeking to send passed legislation to President Trump by around July 4.
6. The Senate Finance Committee released its budget reconciliation draft June 16 which proposed deeper and broader cuts to Medicaid than its counterparts in the House — heightening concerns among hospital leaders who were already warning of significant risks to patient access, insurance coverage and financial stability for providers.
7. An analysis from the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found the proposed cuts in the House’s version of the bill could place 338 financially struggling rural hospitals at risk of closure.
