The National Rural Healthcare Association (NRHA) recently submitted a press release sharing details about the United State’s Senate Appropriations Committee’s funding decisions, as it relates to rural health care programs. Full Release below. Full press release available to NRHA members is available here.
The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up its FY 2026 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (L-HHS) appropriations bill and passed it out of Committee. Thanks to our members’ tireless advocacy, we are pleased to see the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, State Offices of Rural Health, and Rural Hospital Stabilization Program all funded! Please find more information on specific funding levels below. Our work is not over yet as we are still waiting on appropriations numbers from the House, who already broke for August recess and will take up their L-HHS bill in September. Continue to contact your representatives and urge them to fully fund rural health programs with our advocacy campaign.
The Senate’s proposed funding levels for FY 2026 include:
- $66.27 million for the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program
- $13.5 million for the State Offices of Rural Health
- $145 million for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program
- $14 million for the Rural Residency Planning and Development Program
- $103.975 million for the Rural Health Care Services Outreach programs
- $6 million for the Rural Hospital Stabilization Program
- $13 million for the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies Program
- $11.076 million for Rural Health Research
- $42.05 for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth
- $5 million for the Office of Rural Health at the CDC
- $1.85 billion for community health centers
- $128.6 million for the National Health Service Corps
For more information on the NRHA visit ruralhealth.us
