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Obama Administration Touts Health-Reform Benefits To Rural US

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Health care in rural America could be improved with health-insurance reforms, according to a report issued Tuesday by Obama administration officials.

Doctors, nurses and other health-care providers are in short supply in rural areas, where residents are more likely to be poor, lack health insurance and have chronic health conditions such as heart disease or diabetes, the report notes. Lack of competition is another problem: The report said that in many rural states, one insurance company dominates the market, leaving residents with few choices.

Cost is an issue as well. While a multi-state survey found 90% of farm and ranch operators have health insurance, it also found 20% of them have medical debt, according to the report. One in five Americans without health insurance-- 8.5 million people--live in rural areas, often working for small businesses that cannot afford to offer it, the report added.

Changes sought by the Obama administration--including creation of new health- insurance exchanges and tax credits and financial assistance to help make insurance coverage more affordable--could cure many of these problems, according to the administration's report. It also touted other reforms backed by Obama, such as precluding insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting medical conditions and limiting out-of-pocket spending, predicting they would help rural residents.

Scholarships, bonuses and financial assistance to encourage health-care providers to practice in underserved areas would help fill out thinning ranks of rural doctors, nurses and dentists, addressing another longstanding problem, the administration report states.

Release of the report comes as Congress is considering various plans to overhaul U.S. health care. Some rural Democrats are leery of changes to expand Medicare, the federal health program for older Americans, since Medicare reimbursement rates in rural areas lag behind the national average. Medicare reimbursement rates aren't discussed in the administration's report, which was prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services's Office of Health Reform.

-By Judith Burns, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-6692; Judith.Burns@dowjones.com

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  10-27-091602ET
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