Susan Collins

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Maine is set to receive more than $190 million in the second year of the federal Rural Health Transformation Program.

Sen. Susan Collins, who pushed for the $50 billion investment in the program during negotiations over the One Big Beautiful Bill, announced this year’s funding for Maine on Tuesday.

About $10 billion is to be distributed across all 50 states over five years as part of the program. Maine received $190 million in the first year and will get about $360,000 more in the second, which Collins credited to the state meeting program objectives.

Collins advocated for the funding in order to partially offset Medicaid cuts that are set to start in 2027. She and the rest of Maine’s congressional delegation, independent Sen. Angus King and Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, voted “no” on the bill, partly because of the Medicaid cutbacks.

Maine stands to lose $5 billion in Medicaid funding under the bill.

“Funding from this program has already been used to protect the Penobscot Community Health Center from bankruptcy and will be crucial to helping rural health care providers in Maine innovate to lower costs and improve health outcomes for Mainers no matter where they live,” Collins said in a written statement.

It has yet to be determined how to utilize the funding. Earlier this year, Maine officials struggled to administer funds in ways that aligned with program guidelines, with the federal government previously vetoing two of the state’s proposed initiatives.

Drew is the night reporter for the Portland Press Herald. He previously covered South Portland, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth for the Sentry, Leader and Southern Forecaster. Though he is from Massachusetts,... More by Drew Johnson

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