Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is accused of “lying to Georgians” about the closing of a rural hospital’s labor and delivery service to weaponize misinformation against President Donald Trump and Republicans with a political narrative against “Medicaid cuts.”
“Jon Ossoff is lying to Georgians again: St. Mary’s Healthcare System is owned and operated by an out-of-state conglomerate whose Trump-hating, pro-DEI Democrat CEO started making cuts to services under President Biden,” National Republican Senate Committee regional press secretary Nick Puglia wrote in a statement Thursday.
“While President Trump is working to ensure Medicaid serves Americans who truly need it, Jon Ossoff is trying to cover Democrats’ own failures to address rural healthcare by lying to patients and working in lockstep with this CEO who took home over $5 million despite the company’s gross financial mismanagement.”
The remarks that drew the response were from an Ossoff X post Wednesday.
“St Mary’s Hospital in NE Georgia is closing its labor and delivery service, citing Trump’s Medicaid cuts,” Ossoff wrote. “Women going into labor will now have to drive an hour plus to deliver safely.
“Way to go, GOP.”
There were 312 births at St. Mary’s last year. The nearest labor and delivery hospital of Northeast Georgia Medical Center is just 34 miles away (40 minutes) and not an “hour plus” drive, as Ossoff claimed.
“Democrats like Ossoff let St. Mary’s go into financial mismanagement for years until Republicans stepped up this year to pass a $50 billion Rural Health Fund — the single largest investment in rural healthcare in our nation’s history, delivered through the Working Family Tax Cuts,” Puglia’s statement concluded.
An official from Ossoff’s reelection campaign declined to comment directly to Newsmax, redirecting to The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s reporting the shutdown was clinched by funding that would no longer be available.
But the Republican operatives, and the AJC report, note the closure had been 18 months in the making during previous Biden administration, according to a St. Mary’s Healthcare System statement.
Also, its parent company Trinity Health was fined for dismantling its maternity unit at Johnson Memorial Hospital during the Biden administration under the guise of COVID-19 safety guidelines.
The NRSC also highlighted the company’s restrictive DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives under the leadership of CEO Mike Slubowski, who has long been critical of Trump for talking points like climate change.
A fiscal year 2024 independent audit found “significant” deficiencies in internal controls and five separate deficiencies in Trinity Health facilities for the misuse of funds. One facility did not report $2 million it received from Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
A White House official defended the Trump administration’s actions, noting it includes $50 billion for rural health.
“President Trump’s Rural Health Transformation Program is a $50 billion investment from the federal government — the largest investment in rural healthcare to date — that will drive reform and target the systemic reasons why hospitals in rural America have struggled for years,” spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita told the AJC. “This program is a win for every rural community across the country.”
The AJC report did not specify if this program’s funds would have saved this particular labor and delivery at St. Mary’s.
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