Texas awarded more rural health funds than any other state, federal government announces

Federal officials on Monday announced funding amounts for its new rural health program, which will dole out $50 billion across the country over the next five years.

For the 2026 fiscal year, Texas will receive more than $281 million, according to the announcement, which is more than any other state.

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which is administering the Rural Health Transformation Program, announced the funding amounts on Monday.

The program is set up to distribute half of the total funding – $25 billion, or $5 billion each year – equally among the states. States competed for the remaining half of the funding.

All 50 states applied to the program and all states will receive some amount of funding during the fiscal year. The funding amounts vary widely among the states for the first year of the program.

The state of New Jersey will receive the lowest amount of funding at $147 million; Texas will receive nearly double that amount.

The Rural Health Transformation Program was established under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which President Donald Trump signed into law this summer.

Advocates and executives have worried, publicly and repeatedly, about rural hospitals’ finances over the next few years. Rural health facilities have been under fiscal strain for years now, and their finances are posed to become more precarious under Medicaid cuts enacted by the Trump administration.

Rural hospital executives welcome the incoming funds from the program, but they also worry also the money might not be enough. Nationwide, the federal rural health funds will replace less than 40% of the cuts in Medicaid funding, according to an analysis from health policy organization KFF.

Texas applied for the rural health program funds in early November. The funds will begin to be awarded after Dec. 31.

Other states who were rewarded more than others included California ($233,639,308) and Montana ($233,509,359).

–Texas: $281,319,361

–Alaska: $272,174,856

–California: $233,639,308

–Montana: $233,509,359

–Oklahoma: $223,476,949

The five states receiving the least funding for the 2026 fiscal year are:

–New Jersey: $147,250,806

–Connecticut: $154,249,106

–Rhode Island: $156,169,931

–Delaware: $157,394,964

–Massachusetts: $162,005,238