Key Points:
- Gov. Katie Hobbs applies for $1 billion federal aid to support rural health care in Arizona
- Funding is part of $50 billion set aside by Congress to address financial challenges facing rural hospitals
- Arizona’s rural areas face higher mortality rates from cancer and other diseases
By Howard Fischer | Arizona Capitol Times
Gov. Katie Hobbs is applying for $1 billion in newly available federal aid to help shore up rural health care — especially with the risk of losing federal Medicaid dollars.
The money is part of $50 billion that Congress set aside over the next five years in its “Big Beautiful Bill” to support the delivery of health care in rural communities. The funding was pushed by lawmakers who said they wanted to address the unique financial challenges facing rural hospitals.
But it also comes as another provision of the massive budget package is designed to reduce Medicaid spending by $911 billion nationally over the next decade, a figure that KFF, which analyzes health measures, says includes an estimated $137 billion in rural areas that could endanger rural hospitals, many of which are considered to already be in financially risky situations.
