A new report from the office of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius suggests that people living in rural areas face particularly difficult challenges in accessing healthcare, including higher rates of poverty, higher levels of health problems and a greater likelihood of being uninsured.
Right now, according to the report, almost 50 million people in rural America have healthcare access problems. Nearly one in five of the country's uninsured--or about 8.5 million people--live in rural areas.
Rural residents pay an average of 40 percent of their healthcare costs out of pocket, as opposed to one-third carried by urban dwellers.
To learn more about the survey:
- read this Healthcare Finance News piece