MORGANTOWN — Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and three colleagues unveiled a menu of proposals on Thursday aimed at serving rural America during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The four, members of the Democratic Policy & Communications Committee, released a report called Rural America and COVID-19: Small Towns and Communities are at High Risk.
The coronavirus is spreading in rural communities, said DPCC chairwoman Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Those communities face special challenges that need to be addressed in coronavirus aid packages. “Bottom line for us, we wanted to make sure we were focusing on small towns and rural communities.”
Manchin, DPCC vice chair, said, “This started out as a health crisis. It’s turning rapidly into a financial crisis and we must stay ahead of it.”
They outlined some of the problems. Manchin said they’d like to see $20 billion in aid set aside for rural hospitals – including Medicaid patients, who make up a large proportion of their base – which were straining to stay open before the virus hit. Since 2010, 128 rural hospitals have closed, including eight this year.
“They’re on the chopping block every day and we’ve go to make sure that we’re able to direct this assistance directly to that,” he said.
Rural communities have higher rates of chronic health problems, he said, and are more vulnerable to the virus; 90% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 have underlying conditions.
The federal government is encouraging the use of telehealth during the nationwide stay-at-home, he said. “Telehealth is wonderful if you have internet service.” But broad swaths of rural America high speed internet service. “It should be an absolute must that we have rural broadband connectivity.”
Compounding the problem, he said, providers in areas without broadband are providing phone appointments, but they don’t get reimbursed for audio-only service, so COVID-19 aid needs to provide for that.
Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota offered an illustration. A TV news report showed a family who drive 15 miles from their home with no broadband access to park in a McDonald’s lot so the kids could do their homework and the parents could do some online business.
In West Virginia, Manchin and his Republican colleague Sen. Shelley Moore Capito have both pushed for broadband expansion for years. They’ve also jointly pushed for CARES money for publicly owned hospitals, which are now excluded from aid.
Smith is also pushing for that. She noted that many small hospitals in her state are owned by cities or counties and are struggling just like their privately owned sisters. She’s working on a bipartisan bill with Sen. John Barasso, R-Wyo., to make that happen, she said.
Sen. John Tester of Montana talked about the outbreaks at meat processing plants that have shut down. This hurts communities where the plants are located, hurts the food supply and hurts the farmers who have no place to send their livestock for harvest.
And, as the report cites, rural communities already face food insecurity issues: 16.5% of rural households deal with food insecurity compared to 13.5% of urban households.
The report bullet points a wish list of items the DPCC would like to see in future COVID-19 packages or other legislation:
A national testing strategy;
Immediate funding to close the digital broadband divide;
Protections for the food supply and food industry workers;
A Heroes Fund to boost pay for front-line workers;
Aid for affected farmers and ranchers;
Expedited support for small rural businesses;
Increased access to food assistance and expanded food donation;
The creation of a Rural COVID-19 Task Force to deal with the needs of rural communities.
The Dominion Post contacted Capito for comment on the report.
She said in an email exchange, “Our rural communities in West Virginia face many challenges compared to our more urban areas of the state, and the coronavirus pandemic has heightened these challenges.
“Whether it’s collaborating with the FCC to expand telehealth, working to increase funding for our rural medical centers, advocating for better broadband availability in our state, and more, these have always been priorities of mine and I have been working diligently to make sure the more rural parts of West Virginia are not left behind.
“Providing relief for Americans during this pandemic should not have a partisan angle. Providing more relief for our small businesses is an American issue. Providing more resources for hospitals is an American issue. And improving testing capabilities is an American issue.
These are all areas that impact our rural communities and areas we have made sure to address in each relief package Congress has provided so far. I will continue working to make sure all of our communities in West Virginia have the funds they need to weather this storm, especially those in the most rural areas of our state.”
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
