Political Quotes

“today is National Rural Health Day. More than 59 million Americans--nearly one in five--call rural communities their home, including more than 9 million Medicare beneficiaries. These small towns, farming communities, and frontier areas depend on rural hospitals for their health care needs. And their needs are as unique as the communities they live in. Rural areas are sparsely populated and are disproportionately older. More families in rural communities tend to live with less income than their urban counterparts, and patients tend to be physically isolated, which can substantially increase travel costs associated with medical care. These needs are not easily addressed by a one-size-fits-all approach. Rural providers must rely on providing affordable primary care and a system that values prevention, wellness and, above all, care coordination. In Illinois, there are 102 counties, 83 of which are rural. Of these 83 rural counties in Illinois, 81 are designated as primary care shortage areas, which affects nearly 2 million Illinoisans. To incentivize providers to work in underserved areas, States rely on the National Health Service Corps--NHSC--Loan Repayment program, the NHSC Scholars program, and the State Loan Repayment program. These programs have been a mainstay of rural recruitment. This year, through the coordination of loan repayment programs, an estimated 231,000 patients in rural Illinois were able to access care.…”