rural nurse organization

This blog post was prepared by RNO Website Committee Chair Joan Grant Keltner.

Below are three programs that will potentially provide essential services, safer living areas, job opportunities, and valuable resources for individuals who live in rural areas.

• The USDA is contributing more than 800 million dollars toward improving rural electric services to connect thousands of individuals in rural areas. Another key service is to provide clean drinking water (e.g., removing steel, lead, and cast-iron service lines), and wastewater systems. These efforts will offer rural employment opportunities for close to 500,000 individuals in 36 states and two U.S. territories. Loans or grants also are available to provide these improvements in low-income communities. (Source: https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2023/08/28/biden-harris-administration-announces-more-800-million-strengthen)

• Starting in 2025, the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan will offer Medicare recipients the ability to make regulated monthly payments for out-of-pocket medications over 12 months (Source: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/medicare-prescription-payment-plan-fact-sheet.pdf).

• The 2026 Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program will allow Medicare to negotiate prescription prices with drug companies for expensive patented drugs, without substituting generic equivalents. Initially, Medicare has released 10 drugs used to treat kidney and heart disease, diabetes, coronary and peripheral artery disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and others illnesses (Source: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/fact-sheet-medicare-selected-drug-negotiation-list-ipay-2026.pdf).