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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Tuesday, April 01, 2025
The House GOP kept enough Republicans in line to advance a budget plan that’s aimed at passing all of President Donald Trump’s spending and tax priorities in one giant package. But House and Senate Republicans are far apart on both strategy and details for the budget reconciliation process.
Rural health advocates and researchers warn that proposed Medicaid cuts in the House budget instructions could have disproportionate consequences on rural communities and hospitals.
A Tuesday hearing at a Senate Agriculture Subcommittee illustrated a bipartisan priority to incorporate the concept of "food as medicine" into the upcoming farm bill.
The White House has launched an effort to get Medicare and Medicaid, and eventually private health plans, to provide medically tailored meals to all Americans, a goal that produce growers hope will ultimately expand consumption of fruits and vegetables.
Democrats have watched rural voters drift away for decades, but current and former top officeholders in the party argue some of that lost support can be won back this year by focusing on the ailing farm economy and gaps in health care and broadband.
Most of the top Democratic presidential candidates pitch a broad, generous public option for health care and other paths to cheaper, affordable care against Trump’s efforts to repeal Obamacare.
Medicare expansion proposals could benefit rural health care, if enacted; more realistically, smaller benefits for rural hospitals, and perhaps cheaper drugs for all, may be on the way.
