05.28.20

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $11.8 Million For COVID-19 Testing In Rural Communities

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that Illinois will receive a total of $11,821,279 in federal funding to support COVID-19 testing in rural communities. The funding comes from the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act signed into law on April 24th and will help support more than 200 Rural Health Clinics around Illinois. Each clinic will receive approximately $49,000 in federal funding. Congressional Democrats fought to ensure that this legislation included a total of $25 billion in new funding to help improve our nation’s coronavirus testing capabilities, which will be necessary for any safe reopening of our economy. 

"This federal funding will help ensure that every corner of our state has adequate testing for COVID-19. We cannot safely and fully reopen our economy without it," Durbin said. "I’m pleased Congress was able to come together on a bipartisan basis to provide this funding to help these health centers continue serving patients in need. Senator Duckworth and I will continue working to ensure our state has the resources it needs to get through this crisis.

"Safely reopening our communities and our economy during a deadly pandemic that has already killed more than 100,000 Americans will require Illinois to have a robust and effective diagnostic testing and contact tracing system," Duckworth said. "I’m proud to work with Senator Durbin to secure federal funding to help rural Illinois ramp up its testing capabilities."

A full list of Rural Health Clinics in Illinois receiving funding is available HERE.

Rural Health Clinics are a special designation given to health care practices in underserved rural areas by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that help ensure access to care for rural residents.