WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY-06) called on Governor Andy Beshear to explain why his administration’s $212.9 million federal rural health plan does not clearly identify or prioritize the 35 Kentucky hospitals Beshear repeatedly claimed would close because of H.R. 1.
In a letter to Governor Beshear, Barr highlighted the discrepancy between the Governor’s repeated public warnings and his administration’s recently announced plan for $212.9 million in federal funding through the Rural Health Transformation Program.
For months, Beshear has told Kentuckians that 35 rural hospitals were at risk because of the legislation. On June 23, 2025, he stated that “35 rural hospitals in Kentucky will close.” Days later, Beshear warned that “35 hospitals are under the threat of closing, stripping care from families, cutting jobs and crippling local economies.” He later claimed Congress had voted to “close 35 rural hospitals in our state” and has continued repeating these claims dozens of times.
However, the Sheps Center analysis associated with the 35-hospital figure never concluded that 35 Kentucky hospitals would close. The analysis identified financially vulnerable hospitals from across the country but did not conclude that those hospitals would close because of H.R. 1. Senate Democrats later used their own selected criteria to identify 35 Kentucky hospitals as being at increased risk, but neither the Sheps analysis nor the Senators’ list concluded that those hospitals would close. The analysis was also conducted before the final bill became law and did not account for subsequent changes to the final law, including the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program.
“The Rural Health Transformation Program gives Governor Beshear the resources to protect rural hospitals,” Rep. Barr said. “If 35 hospitals are truly on a path toward closure, as Governor Beshear repeatedly claims, why doesn’t his plan prioritize those hospitals and reinforce them with the hundreds of millions of dollars that Congressional Republicans provided his administration in July of last year? If he stands by that claim, why doesn’t his plan reflect it?”
Congressional Republicans created the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program to help rural providers navigate the Medicaid reforms and preserve access to care. Kentucky has now received $212.9 million in first-year funding through that program.
The law also reforms Medicaid to strengthen eligibility and program integrity while putting the program on a more sustainable fiscal path. Importantly, the reforms do not eliminate Medicaid funding or stop its growth. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, federal spending on Medicaid and CHIP is still projected to rise from $668 billion in 2026 to $892 billion in 2036, an increase of roughly one-third.
With Kentucky now receiving $212.9 million specifically to strengthen rural health care, the Beshear administration still has not explained how that funding will address the 35 hospitals the Governor repeatedly warned were at risk. Its plan does not identify those hospitals, specify how much funding they will receive or explain how its five initiatives would prevent the closures and healthcare job losses he predicted.
Barr is requesting that the Beshear administration:
- Provide the evidence supporting the claim that 35 Kentucky hospitals would close and state whether the administration conducted its own hospital-by-hospital analysis or relied on the pre-enactment Sheps Center analysis and related Senate materials.
- State whether the administration still believes each of those hospitals is at risk of closure.
- Explain how much of Kentucky’s $212.9 million award will directly benefit those hospitals.
- Explain how the administration will address any hospital that does not receive or directly benefit from that assistance. State whether Beshear continues to stand by his assertion that 35 Kentucky hospitals will close and, if not, publicly correct the record.
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