New Report on Rural Health

May 21st, 2009

The federal Department of Health and Human Services recently released a new report, Hard Times in the Heartland: Health Care in Rural America, outlining the health care challenges facing rural communities. The report indicates that nearly 50 million people in rural America face challenges accessing health care. Not only do these Americans face higher rates of poverty, they report more health problems, are more likely to be uninsured, and have less access to a primary health care providers than do Americans living in urban areas. Highlights of the report include:

Nearly one in five of the uninsured -- 8.5 million people -- live in rural areas.
Rural residents pay on average for 40 percent of their health care costs out of their own pocket, compared with the urban share of one-third.
In a multi-state survey, one in five insured farmers had medical debt.

Read the full report here.

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