Georgia gets nearly $219 million for rural health care

ATLANTA — The federal government will give Georgia nearly $219 million to bolster health care in 126 rural counties, under a program established by President Donald Trump’s signature budget reconciliation bill passed in July.

The distribution, announced Monday, is part of a $10 billion allotment to the 50 states during the federal fiscal year that began in October, with another $40 billion to be divvied among them in equal installments during the following four fiscal years.

Half of the money is being distributed equally, meaning less populous states will get more per person. The other half is being split based on a variety of factors, including rural population, the proportion of rural health facilities and “the situation of certain hospitals” in each state, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Georgia got more than all neighboring states, with the seventh largest sum nationally — $333,000 ahead of Nebraska and $3 million behind Kansas. Texas got the most money at over $281 million.

Georgia’s application by the Department of Community Health targeted 126 of the state’s 159 counties, excluding the Atlanta metro area and other populous regions, such as Athens, Dalton, Macon, Rome, Savannah and Valdosta.

The application said the state’s initiative — the Georgia Rural Enhancement and Transformation of Health program — would focus on “root causes” of disease and on “strengthening the continuum of care” in rural areas.

 “This funding will help move us forward in strengthening our rural providers while bringing cost-saving innovations to the state’s health system,” Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement.

The federal Rural Health Transformation program was authorized by Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A government description says the money must be used for things like “evidence-based, measurable interventions,” “consumer-facing, technology-driven solutions” for chronic disease, or training for use of “technology-enabled solutions” for delivering care.

Program goals include more “efficiency and sustainability,” encouraging “the growth of innovative care models” and fostering “innovative technologies that promote efficient care.”

The money comes as thousands of Georgians will see a spike in their premiums under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Democrats criticized the One Big Beautiful Bill for its impact on that program and on Medicaid — and on rural health care. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock visited Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton in August because, his office said, the hospital had to cut $3.3 million a year due to the budget reconciliation bill. The Georgia Hospital Association warned in a letter to Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate in June that the bill as it was written then would “devastate” rural health care, putting dozens of rural hospitals at risk of closure.

The White House pushed back in a memo about the new funding, blaming presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama for expanding enrollment in government-funded health care, saying only a fraction of Medicaid spending was reaching rural hospitals as a result.

The memo said CMS would hold states accountable for their use of the new money “to ensure resources are delivered to the most deserving care providers and their patients, not the most politically well-connected.”

This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat, an initiative of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.

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