Rural Access to Care is Declining Rapidly

One Country Project and Megan DesCam

In her rebuttal to the President’s State of the Union speech, Governor Abigail Spanberger (VA) highlighted the grave issues facing rural health and access to care across America.

Rural health clinics across Virginia are closing their doors due to policies put in place by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and hospitals are readjusting their delivery models to deal with the cuts put in place by this Administration. These are decisions that price out too many families of obtaining care in their community and force farther travel for basic services. Even before the OBBBA cuts to Medicaid and the Republicans’ refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTCs), rural Americans were making tough decisions about their care.


Is the President working to make life more affordable for you and your family? The Century Foundation put together excellent data to lay this all out for rural families:

Out-of-pocket premiums will increase on average by 107 percent for rural county residents compared to 89 percent for urban county residents—on top of national median increases of 18 percent.