In the glorious, lefty-infuriating weeks since President Trump signed into law the Big, Beautiful Bill, all we’ve heard from Democrats and the media (OK, same thing) is how Evil Trump and all us Bible-thumping troglodytes with the audacity to pray about things are going to kill millions in rural America through Medicaid cuts. OH NOO!

Progressive activists have been astroturfing Republican town halls, goading lawmakers over the issue. And MSNBC’s Morning Joe is doing their bidding, attacking Rep. Mike Lawler — one of the most endangered House Republicans in the country — live on air.

The ironies are legion. First, most of those supposedly “losing” health care will probably be illegal immigrants who never should have been on the taxpayer’s tab in the first place. Second, the idea of benefits in exchange for work — the basic premise behind the law’s reforms — was a mainstream Democratic position as recently as the Clinton and Bush years. Third, the vast majority of Medicaid recipients already work, care for children, volunteer, or are disabled — and they’re exempt from the cuts.

But here’s another one: a looming threat to rural health care from Democrats’ own political allies — Big Pharma.

Several pharmaceutical giants have been trying to dodge a federal law known as 340B, which requires them to sell drugs to rural hospitals at a discount in exchange for billions in entitlement payments. Instead, they want to replace discounts with “rebates.” So far, courts have blocked them. But they’ll keep trying, because they know it means bigger profits — even if it means breaking the law and screwing over rural patients.

Now a recent national survey shows just how devastating that scheme could be in rural, working-class areas — otherwise known as where MAGA lives.

According to the study, the average critical access hospital would need to come up with an extra $1.7 million every year. These hospitals — capped at 25 beds — are the backbone of rural America. You’ll find them in Louisiana, Arkansas, and West Virginia. You won’t find them in Manhattan or San Francisco.

This is a direct assault on rural health care, pushed by the same crowd that demanded vaccine mandates and now pushes abortion pills by mail and hormones to kids.

Not only would it cost hospitals millions more up front, it would also bury them in new layers of bureaucracy — endless data collection and paperwork just to claw back rebates on the back end.

It doesn’t take a genius to see what happens next. Hospitals already teetering on the edge of bankruptcy will close, or they’ll cut back how many discounted drugs they dispense just to lighten their paperwork load. The study spells it out: 77% of hospitals say rebate schemes would jeopardize their ability to stay open. And 92% say they’d cut back free or discounted drugs in order to survive.

Will the mainstream media report this? Of course not. It doesn’t fit the script. Democrats need voters to believe the Big, Beautiful Bill is the villain — not their corporate pals in Big Pharma.

But Democrats and Big Pharma are the problem. And as always, the more things change, the more they stay the same.