Opinion Pieces

Originally appeared in the Statesboro Herald.
By: Representative Rick W. Allen (GA-12)

When Americans need to see a health care provider, the last thing patients and families should be worrying about is whether the care they need will be accessible when and where they need it.

But sadly, these are real issues that families across Georgia are forced to confront when they should be focusing on getting well. Fifty-three counties in our state, including many in the 12^th District, have no hospital at all, leaving many residents with an hour-long drive or more if they need to reach one.

These trends aren’t new, but a number of actions by Congress, which I opposed, have left many hospitals facing heightened financial headwinds. Trillions in federal spending fueled inflation that has strained hospitals’ finances, just like families’ budgets. Excessive jobless benefits, even late into the pandemic, contributed to workforce shortages that remain a serious issue in the health care field.

In Congress, I serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and I work hard to fight for policies that will provide Georgians access to the highest quality health care at the most affordable cost. Patients deserve to be empowered and we must restore the doctor-patient relationship. We need common-sense, market-driven policies to inject choice and competition into health care and maximize Americans’ personal freedom to choose where, when, and how they get care.

Unfortunately, powerful special interests are pushing policies that would leave our struggling rural hospitals in even greater jeopardy. They are pushing Congress to pass heavy-handed price controls that would gut funding to rural hospitals, regardless of the actual costs of caring for patients 24/7.

The results of this simplistic thinking would be a nightmare: Fewer health care options, more rural hospital closures, less health care innovation in the future, and longer drive times and wait times for Georgians to see a provider.

Since 2010, 167 rural hospitals have closed or ended inpatient care, and more than 600 hospitals are vulnerable to closure. Georgia has lost nine rural hospitals since 2010, the third-highest total in the nation, and we must do all we can to reverse this troubling trend.

Georgians and all Americans deserve real health care solutions that increase freedom, affordability, and choice. I will continue to fight for patients and families — and against top-down price controls that would shutter the hospitals our communities rely on.

Congressman Rick W. Allen (R-GA) represents the 12^th District of Georgia and is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Education and the Workforce Committee – two of the three Congressional committees with jurisdiction over health care.