April 28, 2026 01:47 PM UTC

Hurd Still Faking It After Slashing Rural Health Care

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• by: Colorado Pols

Yesterday, freshman GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd gave some executives from healthcare providers in his expansive rural district what was known before Steve Jobs trademarked it as “face time.” The old school variety in which parties sit physically face-to-face:

Met with healthcare leaders serving #CO03, including Jennifer Riley, CEO of Memorial Regional Health in Craig, and Konnie Martin, CEO of San Luis Valley Health.

The message was consistent: rural hospitals are under real pressure: workforce shortages, rising operating costs, and federal rules that don’t reflect how care is delivered in smaller communities.

In places like ours, hospitals are more than providers. They are major employers, anchors for public safety, and essential to whether families can stay and communities can grow…

And then, Hurd slapped his guests right in their faces:

Programs like Medicaid are a key part of that system and need to work for the people who rely on them while remaining strong and sustainable for the long term. [Pols emphasis]

These hospitals need to be able to keep their doors open, keep people employed, and keep care close to home.

Think for a moment about the position these rural hospital leaders are in as they travel to Washington. These are the same people who pleaded with Hurd to not cast his deciding vote to pass the Republican “We’re All Going To Die Act” budget bill that slashed the future rate of Medicaid growth in the face of ever-escalating need. These providers are reliant on publicly funded patients to offset uncompensated care, high costs, and fixed margins. Hurd’s vote to cut Medicaid is the biggest threat to the solvency of rural hospitals they have faced since their founding.

Everyone knows these executives did not travel to Washington to recriminate Hurd over a vote he already cast. And whatever relief these hospitals are going to get will necessarily go through Hurd at least to some degree, so they have every interest in maintaining cordial relations. But these meetings are taking place against the backdrop of a terrible betrayal that has already occurred, and no amount of gladhanding after the fact can erase the harm that Hurd did with his vote.

What we have here, at the end of the day, are abuse victims. Hoping to charm their abuser. Into not committing further abuses.

And that’s nothing to celebrate.