Emergency care in rural America is crumbling.

It's terrifying to wonder what you'd do if a loved one needed emergency care and all your local hospitals had closed. But that's the new reality rural communities are facing.

At least 175 rural hospitals have closed since 2005. Federal pandemic relief measures threw facilities a lifeline for the last couple of years, but with that aid now ending, a shocking number of hospitals are on the brink of closure.

Over 600 – that's nearly 30% – of rural hospitals nationwide are at risk of closing in the near future.

Where I grew up in rural Alabama, my local hospital was a one-stop shop for my community. It's where everyone went for their summer sports physical, where they saw their family doctor, and where they were born.

It's different now. For far too long, rural patients have been dealing with "care deserts" by driving over to the next town or county and hoping for the best, but we're putting folks at unnecessary risk when hospitals are harder to access, understaffed, or limit their services to try to save money.

That's why One Country Project is calling on Congress to step up and prevent our rural hospitals from going under. Rural Americans deserve a decent standard of care, no matter where they live. That's why we're on the ground fighting to expand access to telehealth, expand Medicaid, and keep doctors and nurses practicing in rural areas.

Congress has the power to keep our hospitals solvent and running. Doing anything less than that is unacceptable.

Anthony