Governor Larry Rhoden yesterday announced that the federal Department of Hellth is giving South Dakota $189.4 million to subsidize rural health care. The money comes from the five-year, $50-billion Rural Health Transformation Program, part of the big ugly budget bill Congress passed in July.
That’s nice. But the big ugly bill is also cutting Medicaid by over $900 billion. Kaiser Family Foundation estimates Medicaid cuts in rural areas alone may total $137 billion, far outweighing the $50 billion from RHT. Medicaid losses in South Dakota may total over $840 million, more than quadruple the restricted-use RHT funding announced for South Dakota Monday and more than the $500 million total in RHT money that Governor Rhoden’s FY2027 budget anticipates.
The big ugly bill also cuts Medicare—I don’t have a state-by-state breakdown handy, but nationwide, Republicans are cutting $45 billion out of Medicare in this fiscal year and $491 billion by 2034.
Don’t be fooled by Governor Rhoden’s propaganda: his GOP leaders in Washington are cutting funds for health care in South Dakota.