North Dakota Rural Health Plan Approved

(Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) -Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed a budget and four bills into law to lock in North Dakota’s first two years of funding from a massive federal rural health grant.

“This isn’t the end,” he said after the Legislature brought its special session to a close. “This is the beginning — now we’ve got to implement it.”

The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services will start accepting grant applications from organizations interested in program money in February, according to Interim Commissioner Pat Traynor.

The $50 billion program was created by Congress last summer as part of its budget reconciliation bill. It was advertised as a way to partially make up for funding rural states will lose from Medicaid cuts included elsewhere in the legislation.