'We'll never know if he could have been saved.' The gaps in Trump's rural health fund

Republicans are talking up healthcare amid the midterm election campaigns, but President Trump's $50 billion fund for rural healthcare won't reopen hospitals.

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

The Trump administration's $50 billion fund for rural healthcare is a Republican talking point in this year's midterm campaigns, but officials in some rural areas say that money won't necessarily reopen hospitals that have already closed. Sarah Jane Tribble with our partner KFF Health News reports from North Carolina.

SARAH JANE TRIBBLE: When Martin General Hospital closed abruptly in 2023, it left a county of about 22,000 residents with no hospital and no highly trained paramedics. Debra Pierce's brother died the following year - a heart attack at home. The what-ifs keep nagging her.

DEBRA PIERCE: The sad thing is we'll never know if he could have been saved that night or not because we don't have a higher level of care in this county.

TRIBBLE: Stanley Sears was 50 years old. Records show that an emergency crew moved him to the living room floor and worked on him for 30 minutes. Then they called his death. Pierce says she no longer has anyone to argue with.

PIERCE: (Laughter) Bless him. I sure do miss that boy. Was he perfect? Absolutely not.

TRIBBLE: When open, the hospital's ER treated thousands of patients a year. Even on the day it closed, it treated 23 patients, says county manager Drew Batts.

DREW BATTS: There is a - unfortunately, a fair percentage of that 23 that would never make it to another ED department due to transportation issues and just not having the resources to be able to go.

TRIBBLE: Batts is now working with the region's big healthcare system to reopen the local hospital. He's also trying to hire certified paramedics. But neither of those projects will use federal money, he says. Trump's $50 billion rural healthcare fund is part of Republicans' Big Beautiful Bill, but there are limits on how it can be used when it comes to the construction and expansion of healthcare facilities.

BATTS: Everything that I have seen and dug into on the $50 billion is not something that is specifically going to help our situation. From what I can tell, it may have an impact to some degree, but it's not going to help us get this place reopened.

TRIBBLE: States are supposed to use the federal money to improve the overall health of their rural residents, who often live sicker and die younger than their urban counterparts. Indiana leaders plan to pay signing bonuses to rural physicians. In Alabama, officials want to use robots for ultrasounds to improve maternity care. In North Carolina, the strategy is to distribute the money to big organizations in six regions of the state.

In this election year, Republicans are prepared to tout the rural health fund as a win, but Democrats say it's not enough. Still, Debra Pierce is a Republican and believes Trump will find a way to help Martin County.

PIERCE: Old man's doing his job up in there. I got to give it to him, 100%. But...

TRIBBLE: You think he's going to get the money here?

PIERCE: I'm praying he's going to get the money here. And so far, all these people out here praying, there's some answered prayers that's happening every day. So we can only pray and hope, you know?

TRIBBLE: Pierce says she's voting a straight red ticket in November no matter what happens with federal funding. In Williamston, North Carolina, I'm Sarah Jane Tribble.

DETROW: And Sarah is with our partner KFF Health News.

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