Decoding the Moment: The $50 Billion Rural Health Program in Context

All 50 states have submitted proposals to the Trump administration for a piece of the new $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. Passed as part of the Republicans’ megabill last summer, the program was included in the legislation to address concerns about the potential impact of nearly $1 trillion in federal health spending cuts over the next decade. States rushed to pull together applications this fall with initiatives focused on workforce development, telehealth, and access to healthy food. The Trump administration is expected to announce awards by the end of 2025 but experts also worry that the fund will fail to deliver meaningful results for rural communities.

In the next virtual event in the “Decoding the Moment” series presented by Tradeoffs and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University (Penn LDI) of Pennsylvania, national experts will discuss the challenges facing health care access in rural America, evidence-based solutions to those issues, and how states and the federal government are looking to use this new pot of money.

Watch the event recording:

Speakers:

• Kevin Bennett, PhD, Director Center for Rural & Primary Healthcare; Professor, Family and Preventative Medicine, School of Medicine Columbia, University of South Carolina
• Paula Chatterjee, MD, MPH, Director of Health Equity Research, Penn LDI; Assistant Professor, Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine
• Sarah Jane Tribble, Chief Rural Correspondent, KFF Health News
• Dan Gorenstein, Founder and Executive Editor, Tradeoffs (Moderator)

About the Decoding the Moment series

The Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to reshape federal health policy have created a fast-moving, uncertain landscape for the health care sector and policymakers. In response, Penn LDI and Tradeoffs’ “Decoding the Moment” series provides timely, evidence-based discussions with leading experts on key federal policy changes. The series explores the implications of recent actions and what they signal for the future. Past events have focused on the health impacts of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Obamacare subsidies at a crossroads, new rules for vaccine approvals, and cuts to violence prevention programs.

Views expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent those of Tradeoffs, the University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine), or the University of Pennsylvania.