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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building. Photo by Jose Luis Magana of the Associated Press. |
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Backed by threat of clawbacks, feds wield tight grip on $50B rural health fund
By Sarah Jane Tribble and Arielle Zionts of KFF Health News
In Maine, state health officials hoped to steer a slice of $190 million in new federal rural health funding to shield hospitals and clinics from the fallout caused by cuts to federal health programs.
Their plan would have helped pay to treat low-income, uninsured patients.
But federal leaders overseeing the five-year, $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program said no.
“It was not our decision,” said Lisa Letourneau, a senior adviser at Maine’s health department.
Letourneau told an audience of healthcare providers, advocates, and community groups during a March webinar that the change was “disappointing.”
Maine isn’t alone in having to make changes to plans pitched to win a share of the Trump administration’s new rural health fund. |
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Earlier this week, Gov. Janet Mills announced the release of the Elder Justice Coordinating Partnership’s updated roadmap for 2026. The partnership was created in 2019 by an executive order to address abuse against older Mainers and to develop prevention and response strategies.
Among the roadmap’s recommendations for the next three years are to improve direct victim services, such as the agency that investigates claims of abuse, neglect or exploitation of incapacitated or dependent adults.
Earlier this month, Rose Lundy wrote about a father and daughter’s experience dealing with Adult Protective Services. Christiana Lauzon’s father, Mark Lauzon, relied on caregivers to help him at his home in Augusta. His daughter found out that his house was in a state of squalor and her father, who has schizoaffective disorder and symptoms from multiple strokes, had lost a significant amount of weight and developed a bone infection so severe his toe had to be amputated.
The man’s doctors had reported his case to APS last December. In February, Christiana Lauzon received a call from the agency telling her that her father’s case had been closed — but nothing more. APS repeatedly declined her efforts to get more information about her father’s case. |
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