Staff Reports
PHOENIX – In a rare show of cross-aisle unity, Arizona’s two U.S. Senators and three House members from both parties have sent a joint letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure demanding that Arizona receive substantially more than the $200 million per year it is currently positioned to get through the newly launched Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP).
The letter, signed by Democratic Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego and Democratic Representatives Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03) and Greg Stanton (AZ-04), along with Republican Representative Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06), warns that national ranking formulas dramatically understate the state’s rural health care crisis.
“Arizona is one of the most rural states in the nation, yet a University of North Carolina assessment used in the RHTP funding formula ranked us a shocking 36th out of 50 states,” the lawmakers wrote. “This is not reflective of Arizona’s landscape and reality.”
With an average population density of just eight people per square mile, seven entirely rural counties, and large swaths of remote Tribal land—including the Havasupai Tribe’s reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon—Arizona faces barriers that the lawmakers argue are unmatched by most states.
“Mountains, deserts, forests, and vast distances make even short trips for medical care impossible for many residents,” they wrote. “When you layer on lower incomes, higher unemployment, and severe shortages of childcare and housing, the result is a public health emergency in many of our rural and Tribal communities.”
The bipartisan group is asking HHS to override the current formula-driven allocation and commit at least $200 million annually for five years—roughly $1 billion total—to modernize rural clinics, expand telehealth, recruit providers, and build new health infrastructure across the state.
“Given the vast area, significant needs of the State, and rurality of so many Arizonans, Arizona should receive much more than $200 million per year to adequately address these needs,” the letter states.
The Rural Health Transformation Program, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is a multi-billion-dollar initiative created to help rural health systems recover and modernize after the COVID-19 pandemic. Final funding decisions for the first five-year cycle are expected in early 2026.
Representative Ciscomani, the only Republican from Arizona on the letter, is the Gila Valley’s Representative in Congress.
HHS has not yet responded publicly to the request.
The full text of the letter can be read here and is also posted below.
