The promise and reality of the rural health fund
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the 2025 budget bill, Congress created the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program to help struggling hospitals, doctors, and patients in rural America. But rural hospitals are expected to lose three times that through Medicaid cuts in that same budget bill. So, what will it take to keep rural healthcare afloat?
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| 0:49.8 | This is On Point. I'm Magna Chakra-Bardi. |
| 0:56.1 | As part of the Great Big Beautiful Bill, we're increased increased and we have increased funding for the health care by an unprecedented $50 billion. |
| 1:01.6 | That's rural health care. |
| 1:03.0 | Nobody thought that was going to happen, and we got it done. |
| 1:06.5 | That's President Trump on January 16th at a White House event on rural health care. |
| 1:12.3 | Just before the new year, the federal government announced the funding allocation that each state will receive this year in 2026 under the new Rural Health Transformation Program. |
| 1:23.3 | That funding averages out to about $200 million per state. |
| 1:26.9 | With the Rural Health Transformation Program, we are $200 million per state. With the rural health transformation program, |
| 1:30.9 | we are getting rural communities the health support they need, |
| 1:34.9 | and we're getting it immediately. |
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