We in the urban Northeast, with the possible exception of backcountry Maine or the far north towards Canada, don’t think much about what we call the countryside except when we go for a walk in a cared for park, but millions of our brothers and sisters live in areas with little access to health care.
In 1946 Congress passed the Hill-Burton Act providing federal subsidies to small rural hospitals so the whole country could have access to health care. The proposed budget, which the right thinks is too liberal, will destroy access t hospitals in rural hospitals because without federal subsidies, those hospitals cannot survive.
The irony, of course, is that many of these areas vote for a Congress that would kill them by neglect and a claim that “it’s just too expensive.” However, Congress doesn’t think it’s too expensive to lower taxes on the rich or to subsidize fossil fuels. Talk about skewed priorities. Why people vote against their own self-interests is a puzzlement.
Prayer for the Day
As Congress debates an immoral budget, we shudder,
We shudder, O Lord, for those who need health care;
As Congress votes to deliver more to the rich, we wonder,
We wonder, O God, why people don’t cry out.
Deliver us, O Holy One, from fearful and silent politicians,
Cowering under threats of losing their power and influence.
In the name of the One who calls us all to task,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Small rural hospitals deliver most of the healthcare in many rural communities. There are more than 1,000 rural hospitals but they only get 2% of health care funding. More than 130 have closed over the past decade and hundreds more face closure.
From Saving Rural Hospitals, a nonprofit organization.
Without additional action rural Americans will be left with few options for health care, not unlike many across the rural South in the mid-late 20th century, with potentially catastrophic consequences.
Allie R. Lopez, Ph.D. student in history, Baylor University
With my voice I cry to the Lord; with my voice I make supplication to the Lord.
I pour out my complaint before God. When my spirit is faint, you know the way
Psalm 142: 1-3