Rural Health
Mapping the Barriers to Renewing Medicaid Coverage for Rural Arizonans When Continuous Coverage Ends
By Zaida Dedolph Piecoro and Bryna Koch Currently, half of those at risk of coverage loss at the end of the public health emergency (PHE) in Arizona are children under 19. Like many others, we at Children’s Action Alliance and our partners at the University of Arizona, Arizona Center for Rural Health are strategizing to […]
New Georgetown CHIR Case Study Report Examines Policies to Expand Primary Care Access in Rural New Mexico
By Maanasa Kona, Jalisa Clark, Megan Houston, and Emma Walsh-Alker with the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms Primary care is a critical tool to prevent illness and death and to improve the equitable distribution of health care in populations. However, access to this important source of care is lacking, especially for many underserved […]
Report Finds Medicaid Expansion Has Made Huge Impact in Montana, Especially in Rural Areas
The Montana Healthcare Foundation hired consulting firm Manatt Health to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the Montana legislature’s expansion of the Medicaid program. This follows up the foundation’s 2021 report on Montana’s Medicaid program and Medicaid expansion. Combined, these reports lay out the background of Medicaid in Montana and the program’s reach, […]
For Rural Hospitals, Medicaid Expansion Acts As Shot In The Arm
KOSU By: Seth Bodine Eight rural hospitals in Oklahoma have closed in the last decade, the third highest rate of rural hospital closures in the country. But, the recent vote to expand Medicaid could provide rural hospitals with a much needed financial boost… Joan Alker, a research professor at Georgetown University who studies healthcare policy, […]
Rural Disparities, Racial Disparities, and Maternal Health Crisis Call Out for Solutions
Maternal health access and care were already in crisis before COVID-19, and the pandemic has further laid bare the racial and geographic disparities experienced by pregnant women and new mothers across the country. Last month we submitted comments in response to CMS’s request for information on improving access and quality of maternal health in rural […]
Expanding Medicaid Would Help Keep Rural Hospitals Open in 14 Non-Expansion States
I’ve written before about how America’s rural hospitals are in crisis – and the 14 states that still are refusing to expand Medicaid are contributing to financial woes of these institutions. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed these rural providers to the brink. There is stress throughout the health system with even major hospitals in urban […]