Clean CR, dirty consequences

To the Editor:

For the people of northern Wisconsin, especially those relying on critical access hospitals in Tomahawk, Park Falls, Eagle River, and Antigo, the ongoing political brinkmanship in Washington is not a remote issue — it is a matter of life and death.

The question of why Democrats are “not signing the ‘clean CR’” is fundamentally a question of what we value more: a temporary, policy-free extension of funding that simply kicks the can down the road, or a necessary fight to protect core healthcare for working families and our most vulnerable neighbors.

A “clean” Continuing Resolution (CR) is merely a stopgap. Democrats are refusing to sign it because it fails to address critical, expiring healthcare provisions that directly affect the financial stability of our rural hospitals and the access to care for our communities. Specifically, they are demanding the CR include an extension of key healthcare supports like the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits.

Here is what is truly at stake for our Northwoods communities:

1. Surging healthcare costs for families: The enhanced ACA premium tax credits are set to expire. For working families in Oneida, Lincoln, Price, Vilas and Langlade counties, this means health insurance premiums could skyrocket overnight. Families already struggling with high costs will be forced to choose between seeing a doctor and paying for groceries. If premiums become unaffordable, more people will become uninsured, leading to more uncompensated care that financially stresses our already-vulnerable hospitals.

2. Threat to our critical access hospitals: Tomahawk, Park Falls, Eagle River, and Antigo are Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), lifelines in our vast, rural region. They operate on thin margins and depend on a stable, supported healthcare ecosystem.

• Less insured patients = more strain: When our neighbors lose their affordable coverage due to expiring tax credits, our CAHs absorb the cost of uncompensated care. This financial drain is exactly what forces rural hospitals across the country to cut services or, worse, close entirely.

• Disruptions to key programs: The debate over a “clean CR” often leaves essential but expiring programs — like those supporting Medicare-dependent hospitals or telehealth flexibilities that make care possible in our sparsely populated region — in limbo. While Medicare payments generally continue, uncertainty around these other vital funding streams and policy extensions makes it impossible for our hospital administrators to plan for the future.

We are not asking for a radical new policy; we are asking for an extension of stability. Democrats are holding firm not to shut down the government, but to prevent a healthcare cost crisis and a rural hospital funding crisis that will immediately follow a “clean CR.”

If our legislators accept a “clean CR” today, they guarantee a massive healthcare price hike for our neighbors tomorrow. Our Critical Access Hospitals are the first and last line of defense in the Northwoods. We urge our representatives to support the Democrats’ demand that any spending bill must, at a minimum, secure the existing, essential healthcare affordability measures that keep our families covered and our small-town hospitals open. Our health, and the health of our communities, depends on it.

Pat O’Grady

Rhinelander