Councillors late Thursday approved the plan to offer future mothers vouchers worth €1,000 to spend at local businesses if they agreed to bring their child into the world in the town, instead of travelling to a bigger hospital. "We're not paying women to have babies, we're giving money to women who are already pregnant and decide to give birth in Saint-Armand," right-wing mayor Emmanuel Riotte told AFP. He said mothers would have to come in for prenatal check-ups first.
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.
Retta Jacobi stepped onto a metal platform that lifted her to an entrance on the side of a custom-designed semitrailer. Once inside, she lay down on a platform that technicians slid into an MRI machine. Jacobi hoped the scan would help pinpoint the source of the pain in her shoulders. The mobile MRI unit visits Southwest Healthcare Services, the hospital in Bowman, North Dakota, each Wednesday.
I just hope that the people who are making these decisions have thought deeply about it and have some context of the real-world implications, he said, because it's going to affect us as a hospital and going to affect our patients.
