Page 25 - Fairness Project News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Rural hospitals are struggling all over the nation because of population declines, soaring labor costs and a long-term shift toward outpatient care. But those problems have been magnified by a political choice 10 states, including Florida, all with Republican-controlled legislatures. They have spurned the federal government’s offer to shoulder almost all the cost of expanding Medicaid coverage for the poor. And that has heaped added costs on hospitals because they cannot legally turn away patients, insured or not.

Rural hospitals are struggling all over the nation because of population declines, soaring labor costs and a long-term shift toward outpatient care. But those problems have been magnified by a political choice 10 states, including Florida, all with Republican-controlled legislatures. They have spurned the federal government’s offer to shoulder almost all the cost of expanding Medicaid coverage for the poor. And that has heaped added costs on hospitals because they cannot legally turn away patients, insured or not.

North Carolina has ended years of opposition and opted to expand its Medicaid program in 2024, meaning four in five U.S. states have embraced a key plank of Obamacare as opponents find it harder to resist federal funding and voters force a series of red states to extend coverage.

Roused by voters’ recent endorsement of abortion rights, Republican legislators in Ohio as well as Florida, Missouri, Idaho, Oklahoma, and North Dakota are ramping up efforts to make it tougher for citizens to change laws or amend state constitutions.

The Fairness Project has won campaigns to raise the minimum wage and expand Medicaid in nine states dominated by Republicans. Next is abortion. But there's growing pushback from state lawmakers.