Rural Caucus Newsletter, August 14th 2026
With the midterms just 81 short days away, Republicans are feeling the heat and they know a bloodbath is ahead. As a result, they’ve begun shifting their messaging, especially on healthcare. Republican analysts are now advising the GOP to “talk more about healthcare and less about the SAVE Act": Scoop: Trump team tells GOP to lean in on health care.
Fine - let’s talk about healthcare, Rural Democrats. Healthcare remains one of Americans' top concerns. While the economy is the number one overall, healthcare ranks a real close second nationally but it is the leading concern for people with chronic conditions and families struggling with medical debt Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs | KFF - with up to 67% of Missourians stressed out over these costs: What Missourians Are Telling Us About the Cost of Care - Missouri Foundation for Health. Adding to the mix, more than half of Missourians experienced mental strain last year - reporting difficulty accessing mental health care increased from 39% in 2024 to 52% in 2025: Missourians Point to Good Jobs, Belonging as Indicators of Good Health, Missouri Foundation for Health Poll Finds - Missouri Foundation for Health
The record is clear. Republicans cut ACA subsidies, pushing millions into high‑deductible, high‑risk plans or out of coverage entirely - a direction Republican strategists openly describe as the future of health insurance. Republicans see high-risk plans as the future of health insurance - POLITICO Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which reduced funding for state programs and is projected to leave 10 million fewer people insured. And his “Great Healthcare Plan” wasn’t a plan at all Trump's "Great Healthcare Plan" is Low on Details - just a push to redirect subsidies into tax‑favored accounts that mostly help wealthier, healthier people.
So if Republicans want to open that can of worms on healthcare, we’re happy to pass them the can opener and roll out the welcome mat. Bragging about a record that made healthcare pricier, messier, and harder for Missourians to get is...well...nothing to brag about. Our messaging should build on the reality of their actions and speak directly to the families feeling the impact every day.
Next week, we’re taking a scenic tour through the Republicans’ economic policies - both state and federal. ” Pack a lunch - it’s mostly potholes, tax breaks for billionaires, and whatever scraps they swear will “trickle down” if we just believe hard enough. This will give you a taste: Trump Pocketed $2.2 Billion in 2025 While American Families Lost $219 Billion to Rising Costs, New Report Finds - MeidasTouch
State Fair
We’ve got a great tent this year, folks. Opening day attendance was so-so, but the weather was doing its best impression of a blast furnace - 100 degrees with a 111 heat index. At one point, volunteers were tossing water on each other and crowding around the barn fan like it was the last air‑conditioned spot in Missouri. So, friendly reminder to all our volunteers: wear loose, airy, comfortable clothing.
We understand life happens and a volunteer might not be able to cover the shift you signed up for. If that happens, please...please email us. Jacqueline closely monitors our email and she can try to find someone to fill in or cover the shift herself but having a heads‑up makes all the difference.
Missouri News
More Missouri hospitals are increasing their use of “point‑of‑service” collections - asking patients to pay a preservice charge based on a good‑faith estimate of what they’ll owe. : Hospital Prepayment Requirements Add New Wrinkles to Patients’ Financial Responsibility - KFF Health News. Because deductibles keep rising, patients are responsible for a larger share of their care, and hospitals - including HCA, Mercy, SSM, and CoxHealth - have adopted collecting part or all of pre-service cost estimates up front.
When Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services money was flowing, insurers showered Missouri seniors with perks to get them to sign up. Now that money is tight, those perks are the first thing on the chopping block: How Seniors’ Medicare Advantage Benefits Are Changing: What to Know - Newsweek. Missourians will see higher and more out-of-pocket expenses for everyday care, fewer plan choices and smaller provider networks. Missouri seniors rely on those monthly OTC credits for basics - pain relievers, vitamins, bandages, allergy meds. Losing or shrinking those benefits hits fixed‑income households hard.
The organization that led the 2024 campaign to raise Missouri’s minimum wage and require paid sick leave is launching a $1 million grassroots campaign to defeat Republican lawmakers who helped repeal the paid leave requirement: Labor, progressive groups launch $1M push to flip Missouri legislative seats • Missouri Independent.
The fate of two proposed ballot measures - the referendum on the gerrymandered congressional map and a constitutional amendment limiting legislative power to alter laws passed by initiative - will go on trial next week: Judge sets trial date for Missouri redistricting referendum, initiative petition amendment • Missouri Independent. The case is moving quickly to meet a Sept. 8 deadline for determining what ballot questions will be part of the Nov. 3 vote. When Judge Green allowed the Republican National Committee, the NRCC, and the Missouri Republican State Committee to intervene, he officially permitted those organizations to join the lawsuit as parties. Democrats didn’t file a motion to intervene.
A Missouri law stopping judges from delaying a divorce because a spouse is pregnant takes effect Aug. 28 Missouri law ending pregnancy divorce ban takes effect Aug. 28 ending a restriction that has been in place since the 1970s.
Over 202 monitoring locations at rivers, streams and lakes in Missouri were tested for fecal indicator bacteria. Testing found potentially unsafe contamination levels on at least one day at 171 of those locations, or 85% of monitored locations in the state: Are Missouri’s rivers and lakes safe for swimming? Significant sources of pathogen pollution come from stormwater runoff, sewage overflows and in some places, manure from industrial livestock production.
National News
Heads up folks! The FDA has upgraded an egg recall issued last month to “Class I,” its highest risk level: Egg Recall Update: FDA Issues Highest Risk Warning for Millions of Eggs - Newsweek. According to the locations listed in the article, Missouri isn’t included yet. However, we have out‑of‑state Democrats who receive our newsletter, and we want to make sure everyone has the information they need and help spread the warning.
Treasury isn’t merely shutting down an anti-corruption database. It’s deleting the data so future investigators can’t use it: Trump’s Gift to the Money Launderers - by Catherine Rampell. They're trying to kill congressional corruption investigations against Trump before they even begin: Trump memo reveals 'devious' plot to kill probes into him if Dems win Congress: experts - Raw Story.
Another federal court blocked a key provision of President Trump’s 2026 executive order on mail voting: Federal Court Blocks U.S. Postal Service from Implementing Executive Order Restricting Mail Voting | Brennan Center for Justice. But even with the number of "wins" we've had in the courts, Democratic attorneys general have been meeting to prepare for worst-case scenarios: No more 'hypothetical situations': States move to fortify elections against Trump • Missouri Independent
Play video games? You, too, could become an air traffic controller: Concern after Trump admin hires 2,000 gamers to fill air traffic controller jobs: ‘If they f*** up, people die’ | The Independent
Working families and poor communities are neglected while multimillionaires peddle a global Maga agenda: Millions of US tax dollars sent to rightwing European thinktanks. Did any Trump supporters vote for that? | Arwa Mahdawi | The Guardian. How is that America first?
Our military deserves better than Hegseth: Lawmakers seek answers about conditions aboard the USS Lincoln : NPR
Other News
Alito’s sitting on up to $2.9 million in fossil‑fuel money while getting ready to rule on whether oil companies should pay for climate damage: Analysis Says SCOTUS Justice Samuel Alito Earned Millions From Oil and Gas Interests. Sure, why not - nothing screams “totally unbiased” like having a financial stake in the very folks on trial.
Well, here we go again. Trump just yanked federal support for the Arctic Report Card - the annual scientific assessment that’s been tracking what’s actually happening in one of the fastest‑warming places on Earth for nearly twenty years: NOAA to end support for Arctic climate change report - E&E News by POLITICO. This report isn’t politics. It’s measurements. It’s data. It’s the stuff that tells us what’s really going on. NOAA says they’ll still collect the raw data, but they’re no longer allowed to coordinate, publish, or host the report.
In closing...
Joshua Dunne
Chair
Jacqueline Farr
Vice-Chair
John Parks
Treasurer
