Access to high-quality health care is essential everywhere. However, it takes on a whole new meaning in rural areas, which often have greater medical needs and fewer resources. In regions where hospitals are scarce, clinics are far apart, and providers are stretched thin, coverage isnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t a luxury ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s a lifeline. For more than 12 million rural Americans, Medicaid serves as a lifeline, enabling them to take charge of their health and ensuring they receive medical attention when and where they need it, without facing financial ruin.
Leaders and policymakers have worked hard to address lagging rural health care statistics, making progress. However, a persistent gap in rural-urban health care remains. Rural residents experience more severe injuries per capita than their urban and suburban peers and also face a risk of injury-related death that is more than 20% greater compared to people living in urban areas. Chronic conditions and preventable diseases ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” like cancer, heart disease and stroke ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” are more common, while crucial access to specialists and follow-up care is harder to come by.
Many rural families lack access to employer-based health care benefits. Even with tax credits, private insurance remains out of reach for small-business owners, agricultural workers, heavy machinery laborers, and temporary or freelance workers. These people keep our economy churning.
In family-run businesses, every penny is precious, and dollars must stretch further. Sometimes, essential needs such as health insurance do not fit in the budget, leading to greater financial danger should an illness or injury occur.
This isnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t unique. Fewer than half of farming, fishing and forestry workers are eligible for employer-sponsored health insurance, and Medicaid helps fill that gap.
The Medicaid program is essential in rural America. Coverage provides critical support that rural health care and economies cannot do without. For instance, Medicaid covers nearly half of all children under age 19 in our country who live outside metropolitan areas, where almost 1 in 5 children lives in poverty.
Medicaid isnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t just a safety net for rural citizens and families; it is also a critical revenue source that keeps rural hospitals afloat, ensuring that all patients, regardless of their type of coverage or lack thereof, can rely on them.
Nearly 200 rural hospitals nationwide have been forced to cut back services ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” or close their doors entirely ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” due to rising costs, supply chain disruptions and staffing shortages. Of the rural hospitals that remain open, 1 in 3 is at high risk of closure, while more than 90% of rural counties are already experiencing health care worker shortages.
Now, Congress is considering a budget that contains significant cuts to Medicaid funding. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warns that these proposed cuts could result in massive coverage losses, taking health care access away from millions of rural residents. This would exacerbate the already significant issues in rural health care, widening the inequitable and inexcusable health gap.
The fallout in rural America would be catastrophic. Rural patients would face further distances to access a doctor or specialist, longer wait times for appointments, and frequent disruptions to care. The consequences of facility closures and layoffs would trigger a domino effect, devastating local economies and pushing vulnerable, struggling families closer to the edge.
Every American ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” regardless of their ZIP code ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” deserves the dignity of timely, affordable health care. Medicaid makes that possible for millions in rural communities. Congress must reject these dangerous cuts and stand with the hardworking families who feed, fuel and serve as the backbone of this country. Our rural future ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” and the future of all of America ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” depends on it.
Christine Hamp is the president of the National Grange. She wrote this column for .
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