Giving Compass' Take:
- Liz Carey examines how rural communities' medical debt difficulties outpace those of urban areas, revealing disparities in health care access and affordability.
- How can donors and funders help alleviate the health care affordability challenges facing rural communities?
- Learn more about key issues in health and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on health in your area.
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According to new research from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center, rural residents are not significantly more likely to be worried about their medical bills than their urban counterparts, but they are more likely to have trouble paying them, indicating the greater challenges of rural communities' medical debt.
About 40% of rural and urban residents worry about medical bills, the research found, but more rural residents than urban residents say they have had problems paying medical bills (12.2% compared to 10%), or have been unable to pay their medical bills (8.3% compared to 6%).
“The biggest thing I took from this is that no matter if you’re a rural or urban resident, there’s a very large percentage of both groups reporting being worried about medical bills,” Ingrid Jacobson, lead researcher said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. “To me that speaks to how common concerns about health care affordability are.”
Rural Communities' Medical Debt Crisis: Difficulty with Costs and Limited Access Indicate Disparities
Using data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey, the researchers looked at the differences between rural and urban residents’ responses on health care affordability and medical debt concerns. Overall the research found that health care affordability and medical debt issues impact rural residents more often than urban residents and can prevent rural residents from seeking timely and necessary care.
Additionally, the research found disparities amongst different social groups. While about 41 % of white rural residents reported being worried about medical bills, 51% of Black rural residents and nearly 72 % of Hispanic residents reported the same. Similarly 55% of LGB respondents said they worried about medical bills.
And those groups are more likely to have problems paying those bills. The researchers found that 11.5% of white rural residents said they had problems paying medical bills, and 7.6% were unable to pay them. But more than 17% of rural Black and Hispanic residents said they had problems paying the bills, while 14.9% of Black rural residents and 12.4% of Hispanic rural residents said they were unable to.
Read the full article about rural communities' medical debt by Liz Carey at The Daily Yonder.