Reps Finstad and Feenstra discuss state of rural healthcare

(ABC 6 News) – Representatives Brad Finstad (MN-01) and Randy Feenstra (IA-04) met with healthcare leaders for a roundtable discussion about the state of rural healthcare at the Hormel Institute.

The roundtable was meant to shed light on how rural America deals with healthcare challenges compared to larger cities.

The biggest problem they’re facing is workforce shortages, which are felt the most in hospitals and nursing homes.

The roundtable also brought to light the issue of how non-profit hospitals can be at a disadvantage, as they don’t bring in as much money to cover their costs.

“In Minnesota, we have primarily non-profit hospitals. We are non-profit hospitals and health care systems and providers, and I think that is good for us as communities,” said Finstad.

Before the roundtable, the congressmen were given a tour of the Hormel Institute and presentations on some of the medical research being done.

“Long-term research that’s going on here, that’s opportunities for us to not just be a fly-over land in south central Minnesota, but to be a beacon or a bright shining light for the nation,” said Finstad.

Finstad says that work is important to help fix the day-to-day problems faced in healthcare.

He promised he would meet with his team in Washington to present the issues discussed at Friday’s roundtable, and that he would help push legislation in hopes of fixing these problems.