Trump touts rural health effort: ‘Remember this in the midterms’

President Trump is highlighting a $50 billion program to modernize and bolster rural hospitals, hoping voters in less populated areas will remember the effort when they vote in this year’s midterm elections.

Mr. Trump said that for too long, rural hospitals have suffered from low occupancy rates and workforce shortages.

Now the Rural Health Transformation Program aims to modernize hospitals and bolster staff levels, enabling people to receive treatment in their own communities.

“I’m all about the rural community,” Mr. Trump said at a White House roundtable on Friday. “We’re taking care of those great people.”

Mr. Trump said the funding, included in the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, will benefit Americans in all 50 states over the next five years.

Democrats opposed the bill, pointing to cuts to the Medicaid insurance program for the poor.

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“This is not about elections, but I hope you remember this in the midterms,” Mr. Trump said. “The Democrats are just so horrible toward the rural community.”

Health care is often a top issue for voters. 

Mr. Trump on Friday said defense might be more important, though health care is often a priority.

Democrats say Mr. Trump created a health care crisis by reducing Obamacare subsidies that President Joseph R. Biden and Democrats supersized during the pandemic.

Congress is considering a plan to extend the bigger subsidies, as Obamacare enrollment closes for the 2026 plan year. But Mr. Trump outlined a separate framework on Thursday that would send money directly to consumers instead of insurance companies.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said one route would be tax-advantaged health savings accounts, which give consumers and the marketplace “a more active role in driving value and quality into the health care system.”

Under current law, HSAs must be paired with a high-deductible insurance plan and cannot be used to pay for premiums, which are at the heart of the Obamacare subsidy debate. The tax-exempt funds can go toward deductibles, copays and some health expenses not covered by insurance.

Republicans have multiple legislative proposals that propose delivering government aid through HSAs, some through the current law structure and others that would create new rules with more flexibility.

Mr. Trump used a chunk of Friday’s roundtable to promote his “most-favored nations” program, which forces drug companies to offer medicine to American consumers at prices similar to the ones paid in other developed countries.

The administration wants the program to be passed into law so drugmakers don’t raise prices after Mr. Trump leaves office.

“We’ve got to get it into legislation,” Dr. Oz said.

Dr. Oz said the $50 billion investment from the GOP bill is the largest investment ever in rural health care.

“You can do the math, it’s $1 billion per state,” he said.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, Alaska Republican, said the money would allow state leaders to meet the health needs of residents in far-flung parts of his state.

Mr. Trump said he wants Mr. Sullivan to lean on the other Alaska senator, Republican centrist Lisa Murkowski, to vote for his broader health care plan. 

“Are you gonna get her to vote for it?” Mr. Trump said.

“We’ll work on it, sir,” Mr. Sullivan said.