Health Insurance
Many Rural Residents Lack Coverage
Why is it important?
Rural residents have poorer health care than their urban counterparts, and the gap is widening.1 While just about every part of the health care system contributes to this gap – doctors, insurance, government, and pharmaceutical companies – demographic characteristics of the people who live in rural areas are another factor. They tend to be older, have less access to preventive health care and tend to avoid seeking medical advice until their illness escalates to an emergency.
Yet statistically, rural residents also have less health care coverage than urban residents. As the costs of health care soar, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and insurance companies have canceled service in rural areas, which further discourages entrepreneurs, retirees, and skilled professionals from living there. Without health insurance coverage, people lack access to good health care, and this constrains rural areas from building financial capital.
How are we doing?
In 2001, the Sierra Nevada averaged one in five non-elderly residents who lacked health coverage for all or part of the year.2 Placer County had the highest percentage of residents with health coverage in 2001 at 96 percent, approximately 10 percent higher than the state. The overall Sierra Nevada region is doing better in terms of numbers insured than the state. However, because this indicator is a survey, it is difficult to accurately measure. Numerous variables, such as the number of people contacted or interviewed versus how many people are actually insured but not accounted, contribute to the difficulty of this assessment.
1 This description of the problems with rural health care is based on Emelyn Rodriguez, "Rural Health Care: Is There a Doctor in the House?" California Journal, April 2001, 10-16.
2 http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/files/SHIC_report_11142003.pdf
