RFK Jr. and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tackle rural healthcare needs with Make America Healthy Again bills

AUSTIN, Texas (KWTX) - Governor Greg Abbott and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy held a conference Thursday at the Governor’s Public Reception Room to discuss how to address the many needs of rural healthcare in Texas.

After signing Senate Bill 25, Senate Bill 314 and Senate Bill 379, which promote the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative the day before, Governor Abbott came back to have a roundtable discussion with directors and leaders from 16 different health agencies in Texas.

Governor Abbott and Secretary Kennedy say their goal is to make sure that the 6 million Americans that live in over 190 rural counties in Texas can seek proper help wherever they are.

“Women who are pregnant or recently gave birth, children, seniors and uninsured Texans, but also we are going to be looking for the correct strategies that are seeking to achieve not only what’s needed in rural Texas but the strategies that are demanded by the administration for the funding,” Abbott explained.

Over the past two sessions in Texas, Governor Abbott says that over $300 million has gone to help rural healthcare in Texas, but more money will come from president trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.

“It provides 50 billion dollars to focus on rural healthcare; Texas is going to get 100 million dollars for 5 years... and then Texas will compete for parts or the remaining 25 billion dollars,” Abbott said.

Through funding for behavioral telehealth and AI innovations, lawmakers are hoping to push rural hospitals to have similar capabilities that big city hospitals do.

When asked about the recent cuts to the CDC’s funding by the Trump Administration, Secretary Kennedy defended the president’s motion to reform the agency in order to help all healthcare across the country.

“There’s a lot of trouble at the CDC, and it’s going to require getting rid of some people over the long term in order for us to change the institutional culture and bring back pride and self esteem and make that agency the stellar agency that it’s always been,” Kennedy said defending the president.

Secretary Kennedy says that rural healthcare is in crisis but believes that the discussions they had with rural healthcare leaders will set them on the right path to help where it’s needed.

“If we lose rural America which we are in danger of losing right now, we’ll lose part of our capacity to preserve and understand the American soul and American experience,” Kennedy maintained.

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