Photo by Kristine Wook on Unsplash
HR.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Donald Trump signed into law a year ago, cuts Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding substantially and makes changes in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance coverage such that an estimated that over 10 million people will become uninsured and millions more becoming food insecure from cuts to or termination of their SNAP benefits. But these cuts affect all of us, as hospitals and other health care organizations will lose revenue that they need to support offering services that communities need. This is such an issue in rural communities that some of these hospitals may close. In response to this concern, Congress created the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to bring money to health care in rural communities. HealthCetera producer and host, Dr. Diana J. Mason, RN, talked about these cuts with Dr. Leighton Ku, Professor in the Deptment of Health Policy and Management and Director of the Center for Health Policy Research at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. He and his colleagues conducted an analysis of what the impact of HR 1 cuts would be on rural communities and whether the RHTP would offset the losses from Medicaid and insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act. The paper is titled “H.R. 1 Funding Cuts Will Overshadow Gains from the New Rural Health Transformation Program” and it was published on June 9, 2026, by The Commonwealth Fund. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on July 8, 2026.
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