U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) raised concerns Wednesday about the federal wage index formula that he said is driving rural hospitals toward closure, during a Senate hearing this week with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the Make America Healthy Again agenda.
Tuberville argued that Alabama’s status as a low-wage state under the decades-old formula shortchanges rural hospitals and does not reflect economic growth the state has seen over the past 40 years.
“In my state, the wage index is killing us, absolutely,” Tuberville said. “We struggle to keep our hospitals open. It’s a simple fact that we’re considered a low-wage state. But don’t you think things change in a 40-year period?”
Kennedy agreed that Congress needs to act, warning that rural hospitals across the country are at risk.
“We need to change it or we’re going to lose all these rural hospitals,” Kennedy said. “The rural areas are the areas that are suffering the worst. I can’t change it because of the Social Security Act.”
Tuberville also questioned Kennedy about the disparity between food ingredients allowed in the United States versus those permitted in Europe, pointing to a regulatory gap with consequences for public health.
“We have 10,000 ingredients that we can use in food, but in Europe they only use 400 or 500,” Tuberville said. “Could you explain that?”
Kennedy attributed the gap to a loophole in the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act known as the GRAS standard, which he said the food industry has exploited for decades.
“The FDA doesn’t even know what they are. We have no list of them anywhere. None of them have been adequately tested,” Kennedy said. “We have 38 of the worst of those chemicals under review, and we’re going to get rid of the bad ones one at a time.”
Tuberville also raised the issue of psychedelic treatments for veterans suffering from PTSD, thanking Kennedy and President Trump for what he said has been promising progress in Alabama.
Kennedy said the drug ibogaine is showing particular promise but that veterans are currently forced to travel to Mexico to access the treatment.
“Veterans who have served this country, who have come back from deployment with severe PTSD and who are killing themselves — 23 a day — they’re having to go down to Mexico to get this treatment,” Kennedy said. “We need to get this promising treatment here.”
Sawyer Knowles is a capitol reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].
