I don’t live in the 35th House District anymore, but the wide-expanse district – which stretches from Bath County, into Highland County, through the western half of Augusta County, to the northeast into a corner of Rockingham County – is still where I spent the bulk of my life.
The district covers 1,963.7 square miles – an area bigger than the state of Rhode Island (1,545 square miles), and not far behind Delaware (2,489 square miles).
There are no cities in the 35th; there are a lot of wide-open spaces and beautiful vistas.
And a lot of good, hard-working folks who have been abandoned by both political parties.
The 35th voted 70.5 percent for Donald Trump and 73.0 percent for Ben Cline in the 2024 cycle, only to see the MAGAs approve what they called a Big, Beautiful Bill that cut healthcare to the point that one of our two regional hospitals, Augusta Health, has had to close down two primary-care centers serving the outer reaches in the 35th.
Hospitals cutting services are just one impact of the trillions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid and Medicare that are on the horizon.
“Please understand that Medicaid funds the Affordable Care Act subsidies that many of our neighbors rely on for health coverage. That includes cancer screenings, mental health services, addiction treatment, and doctor visits for chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease,” said Jena Crisler, a medical doctor who lives in Port Republic, in the southeast corner of Rockingham County, and is the Democratic Party nominee in the 35th.
Crisler is facing the clear uphill battle in her first run for public office with boundless enthusiasm, which, if you watch or listen to the interview that I conducted with her last week, you will see is her default mode.
Crisler is, like me, a UVA grad.
Her path to medicine was different than most – she went back to school after taking a few years post-college to figure out what it was she wanted to do in life, then enrolled in medical school in her 30s.
She talked herself into medical school, and later in life, she talked herself into getting involved in politics, starting as a headquarters volunteer a couple of years ago, working the phone banks, getting folks coffee, before deciding to run for office in the 35th in the spring.
That was before it was obvious what the MAGAs in DC were up to with respect to gutting our healthcare system.
“Let’s be clear: rural Virginia stands to lose the most,” Crisler wrote in an op-ed published last week, noting that “hospitals already operate on razor-thin margins,” as we know is the case at Augusta Health, which started sounding the alarm about that Big Ugly Bill months ago, because 28 percent of its patients have their healthcare costs covered by Medicaid – well above the national average of Medicaid patients for a hospital, which is 16.7 percent.
Even before the cuts the MAGAs enacted so that they can give rich people a tax break, Medicaid wasn’t exactly paying its bills: Augusta Health, with annual revenues at $469 million in 2023, according to its IRS filing for that year, reported a $6.7 million shortfall in reimbursements from Medicaid.
On top of that, the hospital reported providing $9.1 million in financial assistance to patients, in essence, free healthcare.
Last week’s move to close the two primary-care facilities in the 35th, and a third one in Rockbridge County, is likely the tip of the iceberg.
“I’ve seen firsthand what happens when patients can’t afford insulin, when veterans can’t access mental health care, when parents cannot afford asthma medications for their children, and when working people delay treatment because they’re scared of the cost,” Crisler said. “We need real solutions to strengthen care, lower costs and support rural communities. I’m standing up for rural Virginians. That is why I am running for House of Delegates, District 35, to undo the trigger law and fill in the huge gaping hole the feds just created in healthcare for so many of us. I hope you’ll stand with me.”
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Chris Graham
