#rural-health

#rural-health

The program will distribute $50 billion to states between fiscal year 2026 and fiscal year 2030, with $10 billion released each year. That represents roughly a 50% increase in federal spending on rural healthcare, which currently totals about $19 billion per year through Medicaid. To qualify for funding, states must submit a detailed plan outlining how they intend to use the money to improve rural healthcare.

The expansion of these programs was spurred by the pandemic, during which clinicians devised creative solutions when in-person care wasn't possible, she explained. For example, she recalled when acupuncture sessions shifted online during the pandemic. A VA physician quickly pivoted to holding virtual appointments teaching veterans "acu-touch" techniques they could use at home to relieve pain. This shows that innovation involves more than just technology, Clancy noted. It's about changing care delivery methods to meet patients where they are.

My 77-year-old mother wanted sympathy, the kind Mark believed was for the weak: offers of a cup of a tea, a hug. Long ago, decades even, she had learned not to seek it from him. With him, she was a trooper. At 62 she had retired and followed him up to a high desert mountain, 6,500ft (1,981 metres) in north-east California.

"Money is not the only answer," said Jason Griffin, managing director at consulting firm Nordic Global.

Across the country, rural hospitals will close, and the empty towns will mirror the quiet halls where doctors and nurses once rushed to heal.

Under the CDU's proposal, foreign medical students in Germany may face tuition fees if they do not commit to practicing in rural areas post-graduation.

"It's going to be a lot more of a stress and a hassle for women to get the health care that they need because they have to go so much further..."

"It certainly is challenging to expose medical students early in their careers to the joys of this kind of integrated healthcare," Reddy said. "The relationships we build and the care we provide truly allow people to live longer with a better quality of life."

The cuts to the Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education Program jeopardize healthcare access in rural areas, leaving vulnerable populations without essential services.