FRANKLIN, Va. – In case you missed it, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott on Tuesday traveled to Franklin’s Hayden Village Center to sit down with Franklin community members and leaders who rely on Southampton Medical Center – one of the six rural hospitals in Virginia and more than 300 rural hospitals across the nation that are now at disproportionate risk of closure, conversion, or dramatic service reductions following passage of the “Big Beautiful” Republican budget law.

Key Quotes from Sen. Warner: View Clip HERE

• “I’ve been governor and senator for a long time. I think this may be the worst piece of legislation I’ve ever seen in my life, and that’s saying something.”

• “At the end of the day, this bill was about providing a giant tax cut disproportionately for the most successful Americans. And I’m all for success. I’m a businessman. I’m a capitalist. But the cost of paying for that extraordinary tax cut, we are taking in many ways the heart out of health care for Americans who are the most vulnerable.”

• “This was not a bipartisan bill. This was one team driving through a piece of legislation that will have huge, huge ramifications. The Big Ugly Bill will cut a trillion dollars out of Medicaid.” 

• “300,000 Virginians will lose their health insurance. Those people are not going to disappear. They’re going to simply show up at the emergency room. And if the hospital closes here, they’re going to have to spend a lot of time checking the traffic to see how to get to Portsmouth or Petersburg to get basic access to health care.” 

• “The mayor was talking a little bit about some of the challenges Franklin’s got now. If we’re going to recruit additional businesses here, keep our businesses that we’ve got, we’ve got to have local health care. That is the starting point.”

Key Quotes from Speaker Don Scott: View Clip HERE

• “Take the politics out of it and just deal with the math. You can’t deliver the same amount of services for substantially less resources. It’s impossible. This is math. You can’t argue with math. You can argue with a whole lot of stuff, but math is math. You can’t do the same thing that you used to do for one more dollar when you only have a dime.” 

• “What the Senator was talking about when he talked about the [enhanced Premium Tax Credit] subsidy, these are people who are working every day. These are people who are working hard, playing by the rules, families with children and they need the subsidy to be able to make up for the difference, that delta that happens between what they can afford and what they need. And that subsidy is paid for by people who have benefited from America in a real way, very wealthy people who have been able to benefit from our system. Why shouldn’t they give a little bit more back? As the Senator said, I’m a capitalist, too. I’m a trial lawyer. I love to get paid, love to make money, don’t get it twisted. But I’m also very grateful to be in a country where we have a system where somebody like me who should never be where I’m supposed to be … Only in America am I even possible. So I’m grateful to pay my fair share back. We have people who are billionaires who don’t want to pay their fair share back.”

Key Quotes from Mona Murphy, lifelong resident of Franklin, Va.: View Clip HERE

• “The potential closure of Franklin’s hospital … would have devastating consequences for our community. The closure of our hospital would leave [families] without accessible health care, forcing them to travel 20 miles to Suffolk, Virginia for medical services. For many, this distance is overwhelming due to financial constraints or lack of transportation options.”

• “Franklin is striving to rebuild itself through educational advancements, attempts at attracting new businesses and encouraging young families to settle here. However, the loss of the hospital would severely hinder these efforts … As someone who works closely with families and children in our schools, I see the dire need for accessible health care in our city every day. Emergencies are unpredictable and the absence of a nearby hospital could have life-threatening consequences for our students and residents. I can’t even imagine a scenario where a child’s life hangs in the balance because we lack immediate access to medical care.”

Event Coverage

• 13NewsNow: Southampton Medical Center at risk of closure after Medicaid cuts hit rural hospitals

• Cville Right Now: Sen. Warner meets with people who receive care at a rural hospital that could face closure

• Virginia Mercury: Federal, state lawmakers call on Va. hospitals to ‘be transparent’ about federal funding changes

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