Read the HHS Report on Rural Health Care

Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Read the HHS Report on Rural Health Care
This morning Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, is meeting with rural Americans in the fourth in a series of White House Health Care Stakeholder Discussions.

Watch the live stream. [UPDATE: This event has now concluded]
The meeting will be held against the backdrop of a new report out of HHS, which you can find at HealthReform.gov, entitled "Hard Times in the Heartland: Health Care in Rural America." A few of the key reasons rural communities particularly need health reform this year, from the report:


Nearly one in five of the uninsured – 8.5 million people – live in rural areas.
Rural residents pay on average for 40% of their health care costs out of their own pocket, compared with the urban share of one-third.
In a multi-state survey, one in five insured farmers had medical debt.