A representative for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services traveled to Orange County this week to meet with local and state elected officials and Republican residents to tout the administration\u2019s health care agenda.<\/p>\n
Victoria Seaman, a regional director for the federal department, said she was in town on Monday, Jan. 19, to meet with folks around Santa Ana to discuss how the administration\u2019s plan to put $50 billion into rural health programs over five years impacts the region.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration announced late last month that states will share $10 billion for rural health care, a program that aims to offset its massive budget cuts to rural hospitals. The fund was included as part of last year\u2019s massive tax cuts and spending bill<\/a>, which President Donald Trump signed into law, and states will apply for funding from the Rural Health Transformation Program, with the average award for 2026 estimated to be $200 million, The Associated Press reported<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n California is estimated to receive more than $233 million, Seaman said in an interview about DHHS priorities while in Orange County.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the first step in how this administration is doing things differently,\u201d Seaman said. \u201cThe money is going to the states directly. They will partner with the different facilities and doctors to distribute this money and determine how it\u2019s going to be used and spent.\u201d<\/p>\n Seaman said she is also advocating for other priorities that fall under the \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d banner \u2014 an iteration of Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d slogan \u2014 including marketing fresher and healthier foods, particularly for youth.<\/p>\n California, famously, is often at odds with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n The state, led by Attorney General Rob Bonta, has sued the administration, just during Trump\u2019s second term, more than 50 times already<\/a>, with several of those lawsuits related to health care and federal funding freezes.<\/p>\n And critics have worried that the rural health care funding could be in jeopardy for states with policies that don\u2019t align with the president\u2019s.<\/p>\n Seaman, though, said her work specifically is nonpartisan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about making people healthy,\u201d Seaman, a former Las Vegas City Council member, said. She noted her job is to meet with legislators \u2014 she was slated to travel to Sacramento this week to meet with more elected officials \u2014 \u201cto discuss how we can make our children and people healthy again through these initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m doing, and I\u2019m pretty excited about the response,\u201d said Seaman. \u201cIt\u2019s not a partisan issue; it\u2019s all about people getting healthy again.\u201d<\/p>\n