Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff’s claim that recent GOP Medicaid reforms are responsible for a rural Georgia hospital reducing services appears to ignore key facts.
St. Mary’s Healthcare System announced on Sept. 11 that it would be discontinuing labor and delivery services at the Lavonia, Ga.-based St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital. Ossoff — widely viewed as the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent running for reelection in 2026 — quickly blamed Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) while appearing to distort facts about the law’s Medicaid reforms and ignoring the hospital’s own financial challenges.
“Georgia is literally not affected by the portions of the Big Beautiful Bill most cited by opponents when it comes to the impact on rural hospitals,” Hayden Dublois, data and analytics director for the Foundation for Government Accountability, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview. “In every facet, the Medicaid provisions are really not something that is affecting this particular hospital, or most hospitals in Georgia, for that matter.”
In its announcement, the St. Mary’s Healthcare System cited “changing demographics in our region, physician recruitment challenges, increasing outmigration for labor and delivery services, and recent Congressional cuts to Medicaid” as factors behind the decision.
The hospital system said it had been weighing the move for 18 months, predating the enactment of Republicans’ budget law, according to its announcement.
Financial filings show that St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital has faced long-standing financial challenges, reporting negative income in four of the past five years and a revenue decline of more than 11% between 2023 and 2024.
Despite this, Ossoff zeroed in on Republicans’ reforms to Medicaid, many of which do not go into effect until January 2027 or later.
“St Mary’s Hospital in NE Georgia is closing its labor and delivery service, citing Trump’s Medicaid cuts. Women going into labor will now have to drive an hour plus to deliver safely,” Ossoff posted on X on Sept. 17. “Way to go, GOP.”
Signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, the OBBBA projects over $1 trillion in savings through Medicaid reforms aimed primarily at reducing waste and abuse. The law also expanded existing tax cuts and enacted new tax breaks for tipped workers, senior citizens, and Americans receiving overtime compensation.
Republicans have hammered Ossoff’s vote against the budget law, citing its tax relief provisions. Georgia taxpayers will see an average tax cut of $3,086 in 2026 due to the OBBA, according to the Tax Foundation.
Georgia is among the states least affected by the law’s changes to Medicaid, according to data from the health policy research firm KFF.
Nearly 58% of federal savings from Medicaid reforms stem from policies such as stricter work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks, which apply to states that have adopted the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion. The ACA allows states to extend Medicaid coverage to nearly all adults with incomes up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level, but Georgia is among the ten states that have not opted in.
The law’s changes to the “provider tax” threshold — which critics call a gimmick used by states to inflate Medicaid costs and draw more federal dollars — also do not impact Georgia, where provider tax rates are already below the new threshold.
“For Sen. Ossoff to try to piggyback on those false talking points that this is related to the Big, Beautiful Bill, is disingenuous at best,” Dublois said. “The hospital acknowledged that this decision was the culmination of an 18-month discernment process, which means their evaluation towards potentially shuttering these services started way back in the thick of the Biden administration.”
St. Mary’s Healthcare System did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Ossoff also appeared to exaggerate the distance that pregnant women would have to travel to receive care while arguing Republicans are responsible for the service closure.
“Speaking as a husband, I know that if ‘Mom’ is going into labor, the last thing you want to be worrying about is ‘Gee, if there’s traffic, is this going to take us 45 minutes or is this going to take us and hour and a half until we can get to a place where a pregnant woman can deliver safely and that newborn baby can be cared for?’” Ossoff told left-wing YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen.
Though St. Mary’s Healthcare System is beginning to consolidate OB/GYN services roughly an hour away in Athens, another medical provider offers labor and delivery services just 20 miles away from Lavonia in nearby Toccoa, Ga.
St. Mary’s Healthcare System also said the Sacred Heart Hospital’s Emergency Department would continue offering labor and delivery services in emergency situations.
The OBBBA also established a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program to support rural providers in addressing many of the challenges St. Mary’s cites, such as workforce shortages and low patient volume.
“Georgia is really going to benefit from the Rural Health Transformation Fund, which is designed to help rural hospitals exactly like St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital,” Dublois said. “If anything, the bill will have a net benefit for these types of rural providers — certainly not a cost — given that many of the bill’s provisions have no bearing whatsoever on this situation.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services opened applications for the Rural Health Transformation Program on Sept. 15. Half of the funds will be distributed equally among states that apply to the program, and the remaining half will be allocated based on a formula.
“Per usual, Jon Ossoff is lying through his teeth,” Republican Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter told the DCNF. “Blaming any closures on provisions in the bill that address waste, fraud, and abuse is patently false. Ossoff should be encouraging Georgia providers to take advantage of the Rural Health Transformation Program, not fearmongering to score political points.”
Carter, a six-term congressman, is one of three Republican candidates running for the Senate seat held by Ossoff. Republican Georgia Rep. Mike Collins and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley are also vying for the Republican nomination.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, accused Ossoff of lying about the impact of the budget law’s Medicaid reforms.
“While President Trump is working to ensure Medicaid serves Americans who truly need it, Jon Ossoff is trying to cover Democrats’ own failures to address rural healthcare by lying to patients and working in lockstep with this CEO who took home over $5 million despite the company’s gross financial mismanagement,” NRSC regional press secretary Nick Puglia said in a statement shared with the DCNF.
Ossoff supported the elimination of the Rural Health Transformation Program on Friday with his vote in favor of Senate Democrats’ $1.5 trillion proposal to fund the government through Oct. 31. The costly plan would have rolled back Republicans’ Medicaid reforms while undoing cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting among other provisions.
“The NRSC is working their little hearts out, but when the hospital itself is citing the Medicaid cuts, good luck evading responsibility for the consequences of Republican policies,” an Ossoff campaign spokesperson told the DCNF. “Rest assured we’ll relentlessly remind Georgians who’s responsible.”
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