MedPage Today reported: When I led the military health system, I was asked to help a service member whose family had been transferred to a military installation in rural America. Not long after they arrived, one of his children began showing developmental problems that required specialist evaluation.

The installation hospital had no developmental pediatric specialist. Neither did the surrounding community. We arranged a virtual consultation with a children's hospital several hours away. Eventually, the child had to be transported there for an in-person evaluation. When it became clear that the care the child needed simply did not exist locally, the military moved the family to another assignment where those services were available.

That solved the family's problem because the military had options. But what happens to everyone else?

A farmer cannot request a new duty station. A schoolteacher cannot order the government to move her family because her child needs a specialist. An older couple cannot simply relocate because the nearest cardiologist is 2 hours away. For tens of millions of rural Americans, geography increasingly determines what care they can get and, too often, whether they get it in time.

Approximately 66 million Americans live in rural communities. The consequences of living in medical deserts are measurable. The CDC has found that the rural-urban mortality gap has widened dramatically: in 1999, the age-adjusted death rate in rural America was 7% higher than in urban areas; by 2019, it was 20% higher. Rural residents are more likely to die prematurely from heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lung disease, and unintentional injuries. In 2022 alone, the CDC estimated that tens of thousands of rural deaths from these major causes were potentially preventable.

More>

You may be interested in this article: "5 Key Facts About Medicaid Coverage for People Living in Rural Areas," KFF Health News, more>

###