The GOP’s “Killing Rural Hospitals Act of 2025”

This is a call to action.

The disregard was on full display at the House Standing Committee on Finance last Thursday to take up a bill —that at the time was without a bill number and breaking the rules of the House–their rules– by running a bill that no one had seen.

HB 3518, according to the West Virginia Rural Hospital Association, could have the practical impact of causing the closure of five rural hospitals and making additional seven hospitals extremely vulnerable to closure.

Just think of the dystopian landscape of 12 rural West Virginia hospitals closing in our state.

If that’s not horrific enough, according to the WV Chapter of American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and CAMC physician Dr. Nicole Perry Byrce, a resident of Obstetrics and Gynecology at CAMC, provided testimony at Thursday’s hearing that 12 of West Virginia’s 18 hospitals that deliver babies would shutter their maternity rooms. The majority of patients served at these hospitals rely on Medicaid for their healthcare.
Imagine only six delivery rooms in the entire state of West Virginia.
The introduction of this bill was nothing short of an ambush: An ambush on your healthcare. It
took the minority party to demand a hearing to give the public their right to voice our concern
about bad public policy that will affect the everyday lives of hard working West Virginians.
To add even more insult to injury, the delegates voted at the hearing to suspend Rule 83b
pertaining to the normal committee hearing process and vote upon the bill. They obviously don’t
want you to know they are coming after your community hospital and your healthcare.
The bill, originating in House Finance, was written to disenroll and eliminate Medicaid
Expansion immediately if Congress reduces its federal match – even by 1%.
Why are Republicans doing this? Our elected leaders, both Democrat and Republican, should
be working with Senators Capito and Justice to shore up healthcare for their constituents and
protect Medicaid at all costs. In fact, one could even argue that passing this piece of legislation
is giving Congress the greenlight to further dismantle our healthcare system.
Delegate Marty Gearheart of the 37th district representing Mercer County said this bill just
requires “people make other arrangements and do things differently.” Nothing could be further
from the truth.