White House will spend $9 billion to fight COVID-19 in rural areas

Last Friday, the White House announced it will spend $8.5 billion from the American Rescue Plan to help rural health care providers in the fight against COVID-19. The funding is also intended to help rural hospitals stay open beyond the pandemic and improve health care for rural Americans. Of the total amount, $500 million will be used to create the Emergency Rural Health Care Grant Program. "This joint initiative will benefit up to 40 rural communities each year and enable rural clinicians to better train the next generation of clinicians who will serve rural America," the White House statement said. (UPI article, 8/13/21)