Stories

“Costs, under-insurance and lack of insurance are issues that hit rural people and families particularly hard and are issues which both the Senate and House bills begin to address,” said Jon Bailey, director of the rural research and analysis program at Nebraska-based Center for Rural Affairs.

Experts have known for a while that Iowa is facing a nursing shortage. But for the first time a coalition of groups has formed to tackle the problem and propose legislation aimed at addressing the major issues fueling it.

Iowa’s rural private drinking water wells “have several contaminant problems, some long-standing and some emerging,” according to the results of a two-year study released last week.

The vast majority of Democratic opposition to the final health reform bill in the U.S. House came from members whose districts are more rural than the nation as a whole.

A new white paper released by The Iowa Policy Project focuses on the disparities at play when rural residents seek health care insurance.
“[This report] really highlights that the need for health reform that isn’t limited to people who are working outside their home — that it is a big issue for those who are self-employed [...]

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius teamed with U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) on Tuesday to pitch health care reform as one of the few remaining ways to level the playing field for many Americans who reside in rural areas.

The steady decline in rural health care access can take a toll on patients’ health, but it can also impact the economic well-being of rural communities.

CEDAR RAPIDS — U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin met with several small business owners this weekend to draw attention to the benefits of health care reform for those owners and the self-employed. “I think one of the best-kept secrets of our health reform bill that we have in Congress right now is that the biggest winners are going to be small businesses and the self-employed,” Harkin said.

Expanding insurance coverage is important, experts say, but that is only half the battle. For many Americans, particularly in rural parts of the country, access to high quality health care services could remain elusive even after insurance becomes available.

While members of Congress work to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act, some states are scrambling to fulfill their role under portions of the existing program as a pharmaceutical provider of last resort. Although it isn’t the first time states have had to institute waiting lists for participation in the program, this does mark the first time such waiting lists have been instituted without a clear path to additional funding to provide the needed funds.