WATCH: With Medicaid changes ahead, RFK Jr. says it’s an ‘absolute tragedy’ to lose rural hospitals
April 22, 2026
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2:55Now PlayingWATCH: With Medicaid changes ahead, RFK Jr. says it’s an ‘absolute tragedy’ to lose rural hospitals
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as posted by the channelSen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., questioned Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday in a hearing on President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget request, laying out the broader effects on communities when endangered rural hospitals close.
“I think it's an absolute tragedy to lose those hospitals. I know what that does to our rural areas from touring the country, that you're not just denying people access to health care, but it is an economic driver for those communities. It's the largest employer, in many cases the highest pay and businesses will never move there once that facility closed,” Kennedy said before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The health secretary argued that the problem was not created by the Trump administration or the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Rural hospitals have long suffered existential financial pressures. Between 2005 and 2023, 146 rural hospitals closed or stopped offering acute care, according to the USDA. Despite the creation of a Rural Health Transformation Fund, the National Rural Health Association found that rural hospitals "are expected to see a 21% decline in Medicaid reimbursement,” due to Trump’s tax and spending cut bill. Kaine said three Virginia facilities cited it as a reason for their closure.
In an earlier hearing Wednesday, Kennedy faced questioning about his stance on vaccines, Trump’s drug website known as Trump Rx, as well as proposed cuts to Medicaid and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician and influential chair of the Senate Health Committee, had opportunities in both hearings Wednesday to press Kennedy, whose approach to vaccines he’s criticized in the past.
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