Rural Communities Lack Progress in Reducing Rate of Uninsured – Report

Missouri News Service

By: Stephanie Carson

Missourians in the rural parts of the state have a harder time accessing health care, compared to some neighboring states, according to a report released this week by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. The analysis shows that states that expanded Medicaid saw more than three times the rate of decline in the uninsured adult population in rural areas and small towns than those such as Missouri that did not. While that is a tough reality for those without coverage, Joel Ferber, director of advocacy for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, says it presents a challenge to everyone involved.

Report co-author Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, says Missouri is among the states with the most to gain from an expansion. “There are a number of these states that we took a look at where the Medicaid expansion would be really, disproportionately helpful to those rural areas,” she points out. “The four with the biggest gaps are Missouri, Utah, Florida and then Virginia, which soon will be implementing Medicaid expansion.”

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