Representative Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) led a recent letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, urging Arizona's priority in the Rural Health Transformation Program.
The program, part of the One Big Beautiful Bill's (OBBB) Working Class Tax Cuts Act, provides federal assistance to states, ensuring that rural populations have access to quality, affordable healthcare.
"Proud to lead a bipartisan letter urging @CMSGov to ensure Arizona gets its fair share of the Rural Health Transformation Program created by the Working Class Tax Cuts Act," Rep. Ciscomani shared on social media. "Our rural hospitals and clinics are lifelines—we can't leave any AZ community behind."
As Rep. Ciscomani explained in his letter, Arizona's rural areas are among the least populated in America, averaging 7.69 people per square mile. On top of that, Arizona's rugged terrain makes travel, even across short distances, difficult for many residents, and much of the Grand Canyon State belongs to Native American Tribes.
"The healthcare needs of our rural communities are great, and it is critically important to us that Arizona gets its fair share of the Rural Health Transformation Program dollars," the letter reads.
Ciscomani noted that Arizona is slated to receive $200 million annually for five years, yet argued that the state needs more than that "in order to adequately address the significant needs of its rural communities."
In mid-October, the Arizona Congressman joined in a letter arguing that Senate Democrats refuse to reopen the federal government because "Democrats created this healthcare cliff and now want to use the shutdown to force Republicans to bail them out of their own mess, on their own terms."
As a result, Ciscomani called for Democrats to "re-open the federal government and we can discuss solutions, as we had been doing before they forced this shutdown, to deliver real relief for working families without turning troops, border agents, or veterans into political bargaining chips."
