Rural mothers already face far greater risks giving birth than their urban counterparts, and two Trump administration policies are converging to make that gap wider still. A $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas and sweeping Medicaid cuts are both squeezing the doctors and hospitals rural mothers depend on, according to an analysis published by The Atlantic.
Rural mothers face a maternal mortality rate 81 percent higher than their urban counterparts, and are nearly twice as likely to need transfer to another hospital during birth because the care they need is not available locally, health policy researcher Keith Humphreys wrote in the outlet's analysis, based on figures covering 2016 to 2019.
