| Since 2010, 9 rural hospitals have closed in Georgia. That puts Georgia third in the nation for hospital closures behind Tennessee and Texas. Rural hospitals in states that have not expanded Medicaid to low-income adults are more likely to close, shutting off access to care for their communities.
When a hospital closes in a rural community, the effects ripple through every part of community life. The hospital’s doctors and nurses move away. Residents are left without access to emergency care and other important health services. Businesses around the hospital may close—a local pharmacy, the downtown diner, or the florist.
This year GHF documented stories from community members following two local hospital closures in Glenwood and Cuthbert, Georgia. We are humbled to share both stories with you today in two videos.
Watch the Glenwood and Cuthbert stories on our Georgia Can’t Wait page. Learn more about how communities struggle when hospitals are allowed to fail, in part because of our leaders’ refusal to expand Medicaid to their uninsured constituents.
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February 2023
