Rural Healthcare Access Missouri: Urgent Plan to Stop Hospital Closures

By Ricky Dana, Candidate for U.S. House – Missouri’s 4th District

Rural healthcare access Missouri is collapsing right now, and families in our small towns are paying the price. This is not an abstract policy debate. It is happening right now in our small towns and farming communities.

Hospitals have closed. Clinics have cut services. Mental health care is harder to find than ever. Pregnant women are driving hours to deliver babies. Veterans are waiting too long for care or traveling across the state just to see a doctor.

This crisis did not happen by accident. Rural healthcare access Missouri has been weakened by years of federal and state neglect, bad policy, and political gamesmanship, especially under the Trump administration and the politicians who enabled it.

I am running for Congress because rural Missourians deserve better, and I have a serious, achievable plan to both keep healthcare access where it exists and bring it back where it has been lost.

Rural Healthcare Access Missouri Is in Crisis

During the Trump years, rural hospitals across America closed at alarming rates. Missouri was hit especially hard. More than ten rural hospitals shut their doors in the past decade, including facilities serving communities in Missouri’s 4th District.

When a rural hospital closes, people do not magically get healthier. Emergency response times increase. Chronic conditions go untreated. Preventable deaths rise. Businesses hesitate to invest. Families move away. Protecting rural healthcare access Missouri means protecting families, workers, and veterans who cannot afford to lose local care.

This has already happened in parts of Saline, St. Clair, and surrounding counties. Once a hospital is gone, the damage ripples outward for years.

Trump-Era Policies Made It Worse

Under Donald Trump, repeated attempts were made to gut the Affordable Care Act and slash Medicaid funding. Those proposals would have stripped health coverage from tens of thousands of Missourians and pushed even more rural hospitals into bankruptcy.

At the same time, Missouri politicians refused for years to expand Medicaid, even though the federal government was covering most of the cost. Rural hospitals begged for help. They were ignored.

The result was predictable and devastating. Hospitals closed. Maternity wards shut down. Mental health services disappeared. And rural Missourians were told to just drive farther.

My Plan to Protect and Expand Rural Healthcare Access in Missouri

First: Stop the closures. Rural hospitals are critical infrastructure, just like roads and bridges. I will fight for federal and state partnerships that keep existing hospitals and clinics open, including emergency stabilization funding and expanded rural hospital grant programs.

Second: Bring healthcare back. Where hospitals or clinics have closed, I will work to restore services through urgent care centers, rural emergency hospitals, and community clinics so families are not left without options.

Third: Expand telehealth the right way. Telehealth only works if broadband works. I will push for aggressive rural broadband buildout so telemedicine is actually usable in farm communities, not just talked about in press releases.

Fourth: Get providers into rural Missouri. I support student loan forgiveness, tax incentives, and rural residency programs that bring doctors, nurses, and mental health professionals into small towns and keep them there.

Fifth: Protect Medicaid. Medicaid keeps rural hospitals alive. I will oppose any attempt to cut it, cap it, or sabotage it. I will also fight to make enrollment simpler so eligible Missourians are not pushed off coverage by paperwork.

Sixth: Fix maternal healthcare deserts. No woman should risk her life because the nearest delivery room is hours away. I will support funding to reopen or regionalize maternity services, expand postpartum Medicaid coverage, and invest in rural OB care.

Seventh: Take mental health seriously. Every rural county in Missouri faces a mental health provider shortage. I will fight to embed mental health services into rural clinics, expand tele-mental health, and fully fund crisis response programs.

Eighth: Honor our veterans. Rural veterans deserve care close to home. I will work to expand VA outpatient clinics, mobile VA services, and tele-VA options so veterans are not forced to travel hours for basic care.

The Bottom Line

Rural healthcare access Missouri is a survival issue. If we keep losing hospitals, doctors, and clinics, rural Missouri will keep losing families, jobs, and opportunity.

This campaign is about reversing that decline. It is about rebuilding trust, restoring services, and making sure no Missourian is left behind because of their ZIP code. My plan is built around restoring rural healthcare access Missouri communities depend on to survive.

I am ready to fight for rural healthcare access in Missouri. I am ready to stand up to bad policy, failed leadership, and empty promises.

Now I need you with me.

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Sources:

Investigate Midwest – Rural Missouri healthcare access

Missouri Independent – Rural hospital closures

The Beacon – Missouri maternity care deserts

University of Missouri Extension – Rural mental health data

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Rural veteran healthcare