Increased Poverty Among Rural Population Continues to Remain Unaddressed

By Andrew Benfield
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C – The United States is home to nearly 47 million people who live without health insurance.  These people represent more than 15 percent of the United States’ total population.  Within this 15 percent, remote rural area residents are more likely to suffer from poor health without health insurance than urban and suburban residents.  The Department of Health and Human Services reports that almost half of all adults living in rural America suffer from at least one undiagnosed chronic condition.  Specifically, research has found that rates of arthritis, hypertension, heart ailments, diabetes and major depression run higher in rural areas as compared to urban settings.  One major problem contributing to these high rates is the lack of adequate hospitals and primary-care providers in rural areas. 

The Rural Poverty Research Center released a study that documented persistent poverty counties.  A persistent poverty county is one in which at least 20 percent of the county’s population has been at or below the poverty line in every census between 1970 and 2000.  Of the 386 persistent poverty counties, 340 counties are rural (nonmetro). 

Contributing to the persistency of poverty in rural counties is the lack of public transportation.  Almost 40 percent of American rural counties have no form of public transportation

Government and nonprofit organizations have attempted to combat the rural county poverty by addressing specific health issues that are consistent through the population of most poverty-stricken rural areas.  Specifically, Remote Area Medical (RAM) targets vision and dental care problems in rural areas.  RAM travels to rural poverty areas providing free eye exams and eyeglasses to patients.  In addition, RAM’s dental program offers emergency extractions, restorations, cleanings and fluoride treatments. 

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Patients Without Borders – 18 November 2007

Rural Poverty Research Center – RAM Rural America Program

Rural Poverty Research Center – What are Persistent Poverty Counties? – 18 June 2007

Department of Health and Human Services – Rural Research Needs and Data Sources for Selected Human Services Topics – August 2005