Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday told Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz that it is not “cool” that robots are performing ultrasounds in Alabama, after Oz brought up the subject at the White House earlier in the day.
Oz joined President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to tout rural health in the U.S. Oz said there are no OB-GYNs in most Alabama counties, “so they’re doing something pretty cool. They’re actually having robots do ultrasounds on these pregnant moms.”
“No, Dr. Oz. It is not ‘cool’ that we don’t have OBGYN’s in many rural counties in America. It is an international embarrassment,” Sanders wrote in a post on the social platform X. “In the richest country on earth, we need more doctors, nurses, dentists and mental health counselors, not more robots.”
Oz’s remarks are based on the CMS’s “rural health transformation program,” which contains project abstracts for all 50 states. States were required to provide summaries of their proposed projects with a projected funding amount awarded by the federal government.
Alabama’s proposed project stated that funding would go toward 11 statewide initiatives. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) submitted the proposal, according to the Alabama Rural Health Association (ARHA). The state’s maternal and fetal health initiative “will provide telerobotic ultrasound systems, digital regionalization for obstetric care, and emergency labor and delivery carts for rural hospitals,” the ARHA stated.
The ARHA added that it is ready to partner with Ivey and state agencies to “ensure that rural voices are represented, that projects reflect real community needs, and that this unprecedented opportunity results in lasting, measurable improvements for Alabama’s rural citizens.”
Trump praised a targeted $50 billion rural health fund as part of his push to focus on affordability ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in November. The fund was a last-minute addition to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a way to keep some reluctant Republican lawmakers to support the bill.
“These funds will go to empowering rural hospitals, strengthening their workforce, modernizing facilities and technology, and ensuring that rural Americans get world-class health care in their own community, right smack in their own community, like they’ve never had it before,” Trump said.
The fund will not make direct payments to rural hospitals but to states that filed for the “rural health transformation plans” with Oz.
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