Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders recently celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Governor’s mansion with a reception that included all living governors and several former first ladies. While hosting such a large celebration on the historic structure, the governor also took a few moments to speak with Roby Brock, the Host of “Talk Business & Politics” on Thursday, November 20, 2025.
During the interview, which aired Sunday, November 23, Gov. Sanders discussed Arkansas’ recently-filed, federal application for $1 Billion of the $50 billion in the Rural Health Transformation Fund. It’s all part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, approved by Congress on Thursday, July 3, 2025, and signed into law the following day by President Trump on Friday, July 4.
As Gov. Sanders explained, the funds would help compensate for the deep cuts to Medicaid. “There’s an expectation that every state will get at least $500 million. We certainly think we’ve met the criteria to do that, but I’m hopeful that we will go above and beyond and get additional funding beyond that because of the work that we did collaboratively with so many stakeholders around Arkansas.”
Arkansas’ application focused on areas such as medical residency slots, workforce and telehealth. As for the timeline on when a decision could be made about the federal grant money. Governor Sanders says she’s not certain if they will know the amount of funding by the start of the fiscal legislative session coming up in April 2026.
At first blush, without taking a close look at Arkansas’ federal application, a $1 billion ask may sound like a heavy lift to justify. But an examination of the numbers is a sobering task, when you consider the state reports that about 45% of the population lives in rural areas, one of the highest percentages in the country. As the federal application explains, “such communities tend to be older, lower-income, and in poorer health than urban residents, with limited access to medical services.”
Worse, nearly half of Arkansas’ rural hospitals are considered vulnerable to closure, the highest rate in the country. And Arkansas consistently ranks at or near the bottom of state health rankings every year. For example, America’s Health Rankings by United Health Foundation for 2025 has Arkansas ranked 48th, only Mississippi at 49th and Louisiana at 50th rank lower.
The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that works to promote what it calls equitable healthcare through research and grants released a report earlier this year, that estimates Arkansas will lose $763.2 million in Medicaid funding and $129.7 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding.
