How life changed in a rural town that lost its clinic after Trump's megabill

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Nov 30, 2025, 7:01 AM ET


Churchville, Virginia — As the final hues of autumn linger in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the 200-person community of Churchville, Virginia, is grappling with the loss of its health clinic. Gone are the days of seniors walking down the road from their house to see the town doctor. Augusta Medical Group cited the health care provisions in President Donald Trump’s signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, for closing the rural clinics in Churchville and two other locations.

“I’ve called around trying to find a replacement, a new doctor, and for just a well-being appointment, the soonest is the end of January,” said Teresa Leach, 56, in an interview while sipping her coffee at the MTN. Mystic shop just a few feet from the shuttered clinic. Leach, who has asthma, said she voted for Trump last year.

Democrats are hoping to make health care a defining issue nationally in next year’s midterms. But the environment in Churchville illustrates the challenges the party faces, particularly in rural communities.

Trump carried Augusta County, which includes Churchville, by nearly 50 points in 2024. Jena Crisler, a physician, ran to represent the area in the Virginia House of Delegates and lost this month to the Republican incumbent by more than 40 points even in a Democratic statewide sweep.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/30/politics/trump-one-big-beautiful-bill-rural-healthcare

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Trump carried Augusta County, which includes Churchville, by nearly 50 points in 2024.Jena Crisler, a physician, ran to represent the area in the Virginia House of Delegates and lost this month to the Republican incumbent by more than 40 points even in a Democratic statewide sweep.

[modrepub]

2. Sometimes

You just gotta let people fall down and see if they can get themselves back up.

At this point, I'd prefer not reestablishing these folks' clinic unless they are going to commit local resources to keeping it open. Gotta have skin in the game.

[Timewas]

3. Some more

FAFO hitting home

[kimbutgar]

4. A lot of in breeding and poor education in those red parts of Virginia

So I’m not surprised they continue voting against their best interests because they are neurolinguistically brainwashed. Even those who are victims of a natural disaster or a contagious disease will ignored by repukes and they suffered they’ll still vote repuke because they don’t want to be woke liberals!

[Keepthesoulalive]

6. We have had doctors, veterans and many qualified candidates

Who would have made sure they had healthcare and it didn’t matter, now it is find out time.

[Aristus]

7. Churchville, huh?

Well, maybe they can pray for better health.

I don't expect they're actually going to start voting Dem. That would indicate a willingness and an ability to change for the better.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

8. Churchville is a 10 minute drive from Staunton, VA., which has plenty of medical resources. They will not care...

...that they lost a clinic. They will still be more than happy that they owned the libs.

I-81 goes right through Staunton. It is less than a 3 hour drive to Washington, DC.; less than 2 hours from Richmond, VA. They are not exactly living in a medical desert. It seems unlikely that anyone in Churchville, VA., will die as a result of the OBBB's attack on medical clinics.

It is the people of Southwest Virginia that will seriously suffer from these policies when the small clinics and even larger healthcare facilities that they depend on are forced to close.

Sadly, they will not care either unless it is grandma that is directly affected--and even then they will blame Democrats somehow.

As a side note: it may be a stretch to even call Churchville a "rural town."

The estimated total population within a 100-mile radius of Churchville, Virginia, is approximately 2.5 to 3.5 million people, based on the populations of nearby metropolitan areas and counties--which include Staunton, Charlottesville, Roanoke, Richmond, and southern portions of the greater Washington, D.C., metro area.

[modrepub]

14. You're Forgetting All The Job Losses

that are going to happen because of this. An empty medical building also won't be paying its full local tax assessment either. The ACA is just as much of a job creation bill as it is a health-care bill.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

16. I'm not forgetting or discounting that. The article was about a "rural" community that voted for...

...the Orange Menace and lost a health clinic.

But they aren't really rural because they have a ton of resources nearby and I really don't think they will care about losing that one clinic as much as they do about waging a culture war against the left. It really probably won't affect them that much.

It is the people of Southwest Virginia that will suffer when this happens to them. But like I said: they will find new and creative ways to blame the Democrats before they start reliably voting D again.

As for job losses: this was a tiny location--you can see it online--so it's not like a large medical building will sit empty as a result of this one decision. It only operated three days a week. They are moving those services to Augusta Health Family Practice in Verona--located less than 10 miles away--which operates five days a week.

I guess my point was that this one community isn't really a great example of one that is being impacted--especially not impacted enough to make it change their votes--by the OBBB. It is not a FAFO story at all for this community.

To be sure, there will be economic destruction on the horizon as a result of the OBBB, and many of those stories will be heartbreaking. It's just that this one story is not really that because this "rural" community is not actually all that rural.

[Norrrm]

9. Leach, who has asthma, said she voted for Trump last year.

[pansypoo53219]

18. now you make liberals less pissed off. rupertstan.

[markodochartaigh]

10. Many Democratic voters, and leaders, need to learn a very difficult lesson.

When you are trying to save someone but they keep doing the same self-destructive behavior, eventually you have to let go. Some will wake up and choose to begin to crawl out of their hole, many will not.
But not everyone can be saved. Even people who have good qualities may be consumed by their personal demons whether the demons are drink, drugs, or authoritarianism.

[Lemon Lyman]

11. FAFO

What blows my mind is that all these people vote. You wouldn't think so many people who seem disengaged from politics would show up to vote ever 2/4 years.

It's also why I didn't want to run against tangeranus in 2016. I believe HRC won without the russian & comey interference. Still, I knew some local yocal on a barstool, who never votes, would be motivated to vote for tangeranus b/c he was openly racist. The barstool crowd loved that crap. cruz wouldn't have turned those types out to the polls.

[DFW]

12. My lack of sympathy is not based solely on the fact that they voted for this to happen to them

My lack of sympathy stems from the fact that they voted for this to happen to everyone else in the whole country, as well.
My lack of sympathy is a direct result of their lack of sympathy.

[Tree Lady]

17. Agree and notice the article says

Even during the blue wave last month they still voted republican by 40 points.

I don't think for many it is Trump it is R & D and so many are so firmly entrenched in their thinking that literally nothing will move them. The ones who moved were mostly independents.

Sometimes people even if they know they are wrong dig in because of pride, wonder how many will die because of their pride.

Sometimes I think what would it take for me to turn like that, to vote for the other side.

[Old Crank]

13. To me, the worst part,

Is the collateral damage to those that didn't vote for Trump. They and children get screwed by the true believers.

[Keepthesoulalive]

15. We are all collateral damage

We may never be able to fix what they have destroyed. It is disturbing that with so much knowledge available they choose to remain in the dark.