Rural Health Access is Worse in the US Compared to Other Nations

A new study shows rural Americans have poorer access to health care than rural people in other countries.

Researchers studied self-reported data collected in 2020 from more than 22,400 participants in 11 countries. The participants were asked about their health status, access to care, and other questions like whether they could afford to go to a healthcare provider. The researchers compared the findings of US participants to participants in 10 other higher-income countries including: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

In an article published in this month's JAMA Network Open, they say they found that the US had the highest rate of rural-to-urban health disparities. Rural Americans also had the highest rates of skipped medical and dental care visits, and rural residents in the U.S., Canada, and Sweden were also more likely to have trouble accessing after-hours care and to have an avoidable emergency department visit compared to rural residents of other nations. US participants were also less likely to have a regular doctor or place of healthcare. 

Three countries — Canada, Norway, and the Netherlands — lacked disparities in access to care between urban and rural areas. The Netherlands had the best access to care overall. The researchers found that almost 98% of rural residents had a regular doctor or place of care.

The study is important because low-income people who live in rural areas of the US tend to have higher rates of chronic diseases, poorer maternal health outcomes, higher suicide rates, and shorter life expectancies. Despite the need, one report showed that more than 200 rural hospitals are at risk of closure because they barely make enough to cover the rising cost of providing healthcare. As of June, 11 rural US hospitals had closed in 2023 alone.