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Most of us don’t see what’s been happening for a couple of decades now.

We don’t see it because we live in urban areas and it hasn’t affected us yet.

But in rural America, across many states, especially in the mid-West and South, there is a growing health crisis.

It’s growing because of the consolidation of health care providers. 

It’s a crisis because of cuts to Medicaid in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. It’s a crisis because of the lack of federal support for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) by Republicans in Congress pushing costs up by as much as 30% this year.

Once again, tens of millions of Americans cannot afford health care.

And tens of millions of Americans are seeing their rural hospitals and emergency care facilities close, leaving them without medical support when they most need it. When a hospital doesn’t produce enough profit now, the hedge fund shuts it down.

This, of course, is absurd in a country as wealthy as ours. I believe it is immoral.

This month, HBO is airing a short film about this crisis, called Country Doctor:

It’s only about 40 minutes but it gives a sense of what’s happening just outside of our view, and maybe it will rouse us to action. It’s definitely worth your time.