Amendment in Senate bill helps Beltrami County

Brad Swenson

Bemidji Pioneer

An amendment included in a bill approved Tuesday by the U.S. Senate delays federal rules that could cost Beltrami County up to $2 million a year.

Part of a $35 billion bill funding the U.S. Indian Health Service, the measure blocks the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from implementing rules that would cost counties millions in lost targeted case management dollars for vulnerable people on public assistance.

The rules were scheduled to take effect next month, but the bill would delay implementation for a year — March 2009 — in an amendment that included as authors U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, DFL-Minn., and Norm Coleman, R-Minn.