Rural residents less likely to have health coverage

"The nation's top health officials were on hand this week for a one-on-one meeting with stakeholders to talk about reforming rural health care," reports the Public News Service. "One of those in attendance was Jon Bailey with the Center for Rural Affairs, who was author of a recent report ... on the prevalence of uninsurance and under-insurance" in rural areas.

The report, "Causes and Consequences of the Rural Uninsured and Underinsured," says rural residents are twice as likely to be uninsured as urban residents. "Rural communities are not well served by a health insurance system that relies on employer-based coverage," the center says. "Many more rural families are forced to purchase from the individual insurance market where they all too often wind up underinsured, with coverage that costs too much and provides too little. Those who cannot afford the significantly more expensive individual insurance packages must go without or rely on public insurance." (Read more)