North Dakota Aims For More Federal Health Funds

(Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – A committee of North Dakota lawmakers will decide soon whether to endorse four bill drafts that could help the state get more money from a sweeping federal rural health care grant.

Congress created the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program this summer as part of its 10-year budget reconciliation law. The program was advertised as a way to support rural states in light of cuts to Medicaid in the bill.

The grant money is intended to go toward areas like behavioral health, workforce, infrastructure development and disease prevention.

North Dakota by Nov. 5 must submit an application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that includes a detailed plan for how it will use its share of the funding.