By Joe Lawlor

Copyright centralmaine

The Mills administration announced Wednesday that it will be applying for funding from the Rural Health Transformation Fund, a new $50 billion national fund included in the Republican budget bill and geared toward helping rural hospitals.

The fund is designed to partially offset Medicaid cuts that became law this summer as part of the budget bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill. Those cuts will slash federal Medicaid spending on rural health by about $137 billion nationwide, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy think tank.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced the amendment that created the new fund as a way to reduce the Medicaid cuts’ impact on rural health. Citing the overall health cuts, Collins ultimately voted against the final budget bill, which passed by one vote in the Senate.

When factoring in all health care cuts in the law — rural and urban — Maine stands to lose $5 billion in funding over a 10-year period, according to state estimates.

Based on a formula that will equally distribute $25 billion of the fund to each state, Maine is set to receive a total of $500 million over five years. If Maine secures additional money from the remaining half of the fund, it will be doled out through the application process.

Applications to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are due by Nov. 5.

Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement that “Maine will fight for every possible dollar” from the fund. Maine is seeking public input for its application on how best to use the funding.

Maine will host a series of public webinars on the funding later this month and in October. For details, go to www.maine.gov/dhhs/ruralhealth.