I’ve spent the past two days trying to get people to talk to me about three rural Virginia clinics closing — with mixed results.
Augusta Medical Group announced last week it’s closing two primary care clinics in Buena Vista and Churchville, and an urgent care center in Weyers Cave as part of its response to President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that cuts billions in Medicaid funding.
It’s not clear to me how these closings are impacting staff at the three clinics. More clear is the impact on patients.
Rural hospitals depend on Medicaid funding to keep their operations financially sustainable. The risks they face from Medicaid cuts were understood and yet Donald Trump and Republicans made them a reality anyway.
Democrats and progressives have shared their anger and frustration. Republicans have ignored my emails, calls, and social media mentions.
As a reminder: every Republican in Virginia’s congressional delegation voted to support the Medicaid cuts. That includes US Reps. Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman, both of whom Democrats are targeting in the 2026 midterm elections.
In speaking with people about the Augusta health clinics that are closing, the concern that kept coming up was about travel times. When a primary care clinic closes in rural Virginia, it adds miles and time to trips to the doctor. It puts a bigger strain on a shrinking health care system.
When primary care becomes harder to access, people often go without it. When people skip preventive care, it can lead to emergencies and worse medical outcomes. And if the nearest emergency room shuts down, the added travel time to the next closest one can be a death sentence.
As one source told me: “If you have the closing of those three clinics, you will have increased demand on the remaining clinics, which are all at least 10 miles away, or slightly more, which is 15 to 20 minutes of country road.”
