Perriello Statement on Meeting with PATHS Community Medical Center of Danville

Washington’s Attacks on Maternal and Family Health Must End: Eleven of 24 counties in the Fifth District now have no OB-GYN, as McGuire’s Cuts to Medicaid and Middle Class Tax Credits Ramp Up

DANVILLE, VA – Former Congressman Tom Perriello released the following statement after visiting today with the leaders and staff of PATHS Community Medical Center in Danville:

“I am grateful to the amazing PATHS team for the vital services they continue to provide to mothers and kids across Southside. Despite attacks from Washington and only two full-time OB-GYN doctors serving Danville and the surrounding communities, they continue to be an oasis of family care in the maternal healthcare desert spreading across our region.

“A person’s ZIP code should not determine whether or not they can access prenatal care and start a family. One of my top priorities in Congress will be to reverse the attacks on rural healthcare before McGuire’s ticking time bomb of Medicaid cuts ignites next year. The war on rural healthcare from Washington not only hurts our local families but also puts Danville’s long-earned economic recovery at risk.

“McGuire has taken over $160,000 from the insurance industry and other corporate lobbyists, and he delivered huge profits for them in Washington as he stuck the rest of us with the bill. Virginia families have seen health care costs rise by 50–75%, in addition to the $3,700 in higher taxes and costs McGuire voted to impose. Folks around here simply cannot afford two more years of McGuire in Congress.

“I’ve taken the hard vote to expand affordable healthcare, even when the insurance lobbyists threatened me, and I’m ready to do it again. I am going to Washington to make life easier for your family, not to make it easier for me to get reelected.”

The Impact of McGuire’s Vote on Rural Virginia Mothers

Congressman John McGuire's vote for H.R. 1, the Big Ugly Law, is already visible across Southside. Eleven of the 24 counties in the Fifth District have no OB-GYN, following the loss of labor and delivery services in South Boston and Farmville. Centra Southside Community Hospital in Farmville ended labor and delivery services in December, citing “recently enacted reductions in federal health care funding.”

With maternity services disappearing across Southside, many mothers now face an hour or more on the road for their prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care. With gas prices above $4.00 per gallon, those visits have become untenable.

Perriello Has Proven Results for Parents and Patients

Perriello has a record of expanding access to healthcare. In Congress, he voted for the Affordable Care Act, which established maternity and newborn care as an essential health benefit. After leaving office, he helped advocate for Medicaid expansion in Virginia, which ultimately extended coverage to more than 600,000 Virginians.

Since launching his campaign, Perriello has held over 20 roundtables with healthcare providers and impacted families about access, affordability, and the state of Virginia’s healthcare system.

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