All 50 states applies to the fund. The payments are structured on three major criteria. Fifty percent of the fund was split equally among states.
According to administration officials, the remaining half is split based on ruralness, state policies and improvement plans.
Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in a briefing that the payments averaged $200 million, ranging from $145 million to $281 million.
New Jersey received the lowest payment at $147,250,806, and Texas received the highest amount at $281,319,361.
According to Oz, payments can be rescinded in certain circumstances.
"If the state says they’re going to do these things as part of their policy, and they don’t do that, then we do have the ability to claw back the financial commitment that would have accompanied those state policy actions,” he said.
Critics of the tax cut and spending megabill argued that it would decimate rural health care through its changes to Medicaid. The health policy nonprofit KFF estimated Medicaid spending in rural areas could drop by $137 billion over the coming years as a result of the legislation, far exceeding the rural health fund.
