FactCheck.org is reporting that campaign ads in the midterm elections are clashing over how President Donald Trump's signature domestic policy law will affect rural healthcare, with both parties' spots leaving out key context.
It said the law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, extended Trump's 2017 tax cuts while cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for people with low incomes. The legislation also included a $50 billion rural healthcare fund, a late addition meant to win over Republicans worried about the law's impact on rural areas.
FactCheck.org said ads backing Republican candidates have highlighted that $50 billion fund in touting their support for rural healthcare, while other ads have attacked Democrats who voted against the law, claiming they opposed critical funding for hospitals. One ad said a Democratic candidate "voted to gut rural hospitals."
But FactCheck.org said those ads ignore the law's much larger cuts to Medicaid, which are expected to reduce funding for rural healthcare overall. It said the health policy research nonprofit KFF estimates the law will reduce federal Medicaid funding in rural areas by $137 billion over 10 years, and experts say the new rural health fund is not enough to fill the gap.
Leonardo Cuello, a Medicaid expert at Georgetown University, told FactCheck.org that the law represents a huge negative impact on rural areas that far exceeds any benefits from the rural health fund.
FactCheck.org also said a number of Democratic ads have cited specific numbers of rural hospitals the law endangers, including an ad in Iowa's Senate race saying Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson voted to push 20 rural hospitals to the brink of closing. It said experts told it that it is impossible to predict how many more hospitals might close as a result of the law, since that will depend on how the Medicaid changes play out, how states implement the law and how hospitals respond.
In a separate item, FactCheck.org said artificial intelligence entered the Texas Senate race when Republican Ken Paxton released an ad showing an AI-generated version of Democratic opponent James Talarico making statements about religion and gender identity based on remarks the real Talarico made. It said a review of video and audio of what Talarico said found the ad presented some statements out of context.
FactCheck.org also said World Health Organization measles data showed the U.S. had 13.2 cases per 1 million people as of Sept. 14, the 65th highest rate out of 169 nations with data for the year, contradicting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claim that the U.S. measles response is better than any other country's.