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North Dakota Lawmakers Build Wish List for $500M Federal Rural Health Care Grant

By Bill Dubensky Oct 15, 2025 | 5:06 AM

Sen. Brad Bekkedahl, R-Williston, and Legislative Council budget analyst Allen Knudson. (Photo by Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

 

(North Dakota Monitor) – A committee of North Dakota lawmakers this week began sifting through an ocean of recommendations for how to spend a $500 million federal rural health care grant as the state races to meet a Nov. 5 application deadline.

The state will have a number of complex decisions to make — including how to weigh the public’s priorities against the kinds of initiatives encouraged by the federal government, a top human services official told legislators.

Congress created the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program this summer as part of its 10-year budget reconciliation law. Members of Congress pitched the program as a means to offset losses rural states will suffer from federal cuts to Medicaid approved elsewhere in the bill.

The money can be used for areas including behavioral health, workforce, infrastructure development and disease prevention.

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