I spent Monday in Hugo, a tiny town on the Eastern Plains that was thrust into the spotlight this legislative session.

Subscribers can read about that online Monday and in our print edition, The Statesman.

Lincoln Community Hospital, located in Hugo in Lincoln County, was highlighted as a rural hospital that would take significant budget cuts if the legislature approved a budget-balancing move that would have reduced the Hospital Provider Fee by $264 million.

The fee is assessed on hospital bed stays to force a match of larger federal health care dollars. Without the federal match, hospitals in Colorado would have lost about $528 million. Lincoln Community had about $300,000 on the table.

Lawmakers were able to reach a compromise that created a 20-year funding program to direct $1.8 billion towards critical infrastructure. Hospitals were protected, but money also is coming in for schools and roads.

The residents of Lincoln County and staff at Lincoln Community Hospital were of course grateful that the legislature was able to spare their hospital from significant cuts. More importantly, they said it shines a light on rural Colorado, something the legislature has forgotten for years.

In this Republican stronghold that is state Senate District 1, residents and hospital employees who I interviewed on Monday said the bipartisanship on the Hospital Provider Fee seen in the legislature should serve as an example to Congress.

It is the standard of rural health care that Lincoln Community provides that hospital staff and locals hope resonates in Congress, where partisan politics plagues healthcare reform.

Republicans in Congress are proposing replacing the Affordable Care Act with a plan that would roll back Medicaid expansion starting in 2019. Federal reimbursements to states would be cut. Instead, the federal government would give states a capped amount of money for each Medicaid enrollee, or let states choose to receive a block grant. Democrats are vehemently opposed to the proposal.

The Colorado legislature, with its compromise on the Hospital Provider Fee this year, could serve as an example to Congress as it works through health care policy discussions.

“It seems like our politicians are too interested in winning arguments rather than developing solutions for our country, for health care in particular,” said Kevin Stansbury, chief executive of Lincoln Community, who added that he leans right politically. “We are absolutely proud of the Colorado legislature.

“A lot of people took some serious courageous positions to do the right thing, and it’s going to mean a world of difference to health care in rural Colorado.”

What Stansbury is worried about is that Congress will make “imprudent” cuts to health care that won’t do anything to reduce the cost of health care over time.

“I’m as concerned about the economic future of this country as anybody. I don’t want my grandkids being saddled with debt… So, to me, the way to do it is let’s invest some money now… We’ve got to have some money, we’ve got to invest in infrastructure, we’ve got to invest in technology.”

As a hospital administrator, Stansbury is worried that Congress will come up with a partisan plan that will only change again when there is another shift in political power in Congress and in the White House.

“We’re wasting money playing catchup rather than taking care of patients and that pisses me off,” Stansbury said. “If they can’t figure out how to reach across the aisle and really try to solve this in the long run, we are going to continue to play that game for the foreseeable future.”

Hugo Mayor Tom Lee, who usually stands with Republicans, is frustrated to see an unwillingness to work across the aisle in Congress.

“I think when they got together up there, a Democrat and a Republican, it worked,” Lee said of Colorado’s effort. “They weren’t playing Washington junk, and that’s the only way it worked.

“We would hope as this hospital progresses and they do whatever they do to upgrade, that it will be a shining star in rural medicine. That’s what we’re working for.”