POINT CLEAR, Ala. — Alabama’s federal lawmakers discussed the state’s health care system, rural hospitals and agricultural issues Saturday at the Business Council of Alabama’s annual Government Affairs Conference.
During the congressional panel, members of the delegation talked about the importance of having access to health care in light of President Donald Trump’s new budget law that cuts Medicaid spending. Much of the conversation centered on supporting rural hospitals.
“I don’t care if your name is Saban or Tuberville, you cannot close a recruiting pitch to a resident, to a company, to a retiree, to an industry when that pitch begins ‘with we don’t have a hospital,’ and so this is a significant issue,” Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, said to hundreds of elected officials and business and association leaders attending the conference.
BCA Point Clear 2025, Government Affairs ForumThe Republicans on the panel highlighted how the new GOP-led law includes a $50 billion fund to support rural hospitals, which will be spread across states over the next five years. Lawmakers added that provision into the bill before it became law to offset the Medicaid cuts that could harm rural hospitals, since a disproportionate share of Medicaid spending happens at rural hospitals.
“That $500 million investment in rural health care will be a game changer for the state of Alabama,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said during the panel. “We’ve seen the struggles that we’ve had in every corner of our state.”
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, echoed that sentiment.
“We’ve got to help…these facilities stay alive, but this bill goes a long way to do that,” he said. “I mean, it’s just a lot of money.”
Alabama’s delegation talks health care and rural development at BCA
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, said he’s working to address disparities in the wage index and its impacts on rural hospitals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services uses the wage index to determine Medicare payment rates for hospitals based on regional differences in labor costs.
“There’s a lot of rural states and areas, and we’ve got to make sure that the big cities across this nation, and especially like New York and Los Angeles, (are not) getting most of the money,” he said. “We got to make sure the rural hospitals are not left out.”
During the health care discussion, Sen. Tommy Tuberville mentioned Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mantra to Make America Healthy Again and his efforts to tackle ultraprocessed foods.
“We have to do that because our health care can’t keep up with the bad food that we’re feeding people across this country,” Tuberville said.
The gubernatorial candidate highlighted how Alabama might face annual SNAP costs of up to $265 million starting in 2028 because of the cost-sharing requirements in the Republican tax breaks and spending package.
The amount Alabama would have to pay for SNAP benefit costs under the law will be dependent on the state’s payment error rate. Alabama sits at 8.32% currently. If it’s 5% or below, the state would not have to pay any benefit costs. The federal government currently covers all the SNAP benefit costs. Alabama would also have to pay an increased share of the administrative costs of the food assistance program, which is not dependent on error rates.
“We’ve got to get it down close to 5%,” Tuberville said. “The closer we get it down to 5% means the less money that has to come out of the taxpayers’ pockets in the state.”
The bipartisan delegation agreed on the need to support Alabama’s farmers and the agriculture industry.
Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, said Congress needs to pass a new Farm Bill.
“These local farmers are struggling, and it is a crisis on our watch that we need to try to fix, ” he said. “And so they need more promises. They need it on paper so they can go to their lenders and say, ‘here’s what the government’s going to do to help us stay in business.”’
BCA Point Clear 2025, Government Affairs Forum
Figures, who also sits on the Agriculture Committee, wants to encourage the next generation of farmers to stay on the farm.
“We are seeing for a variety of reasons, profit being a large part of it, but other reasons also factoring into that, that kids aren’t going back to the farm,” he said.
Rogers raised the topic of Trump’s tariffs, which he argued would help the state’s agricultural businesses become “more viable.”
“It is critical that the president do what he’s doing to open up these markets so we can sell our goods there,” he said.
The appropriators on Saturday’s panel, Aderholt and Britt, also touched on how Congress can maintain fiscal responsibility while ensuring funding for necessary projects across the state and country.
Aderholt pointed to federal funding he secured for a new rural health clinic in Nauvoo.
“I’m not one to say that we can’t make those investments, but you’ve got to be wise in how you do it, and make sure that it helps the economy, and it’s not going for wasteful spending,” he said.
About one-third of government spending goes through the appropriations process, making it impossible to balance the budget through that process alone, Britt said. The senator said her team relies heavily on local leaders to communicate about their funding needs.
“We’re taking a look at what will fundamentally change this community or create a foundation so that people can have success and that is what we are fighting for,” she said.
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