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Illinois joined the rest of the U.S. today in applying for a piece of the $50 billion the federal government will allocate to rural health over the next five years, with a plan that seeks $1 billion. The $50 billion was a late addition to HR 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, following concerns that health care cuts in the GOP-led spending measure would hit rural hospitals particularly hard. CMS is set to decide on how the awards will be doled out by Dec. 31.
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Summary and audio linked here.
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Audio and summary
Any bets that Loretto and other hospitals north of Kankakee are suddenly rural? We know that a penny of Fed money can’t enter the state without the pigs in CHI, Cook County and the collar counties getting some.
That $50 billion to help rural hospitals was badly underreported amid all the concerns about impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on rural hospitals.
You’re right that the RHTP in the OBBBA was under reported. The KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) estimates that the slowing the increase in Medicaid spending in the OBBBA will negatively affect rural hospitals by $137 billion over 10 years. Other estimates show the reduction in Medicaid spending may only negatively affect rural hospitals by $58 billion over 10 years. Either way, if these estimates of the reduction in Medicaid spending are correct, many rural hospitals are going to be in big trouble.