One-size-fits-all mandates from Washington are rarely the answer to the problems Americans face, and health care is no exception. As anyone who has traveled our state can see, there is endless diversity of needs across our communities.The health care challenges, and the solutions needed to best serve them, are just as varied.
While access to care is not a challenge unique to rural communities, our communities must overcome limited labor forces and expansive coverage areas which make it impossible for them to enjoy the economies of scale which benefit large urban health systems. In fact, describing many Third District communities as “rural” downplays the magnitude of the barriers to health care access they face; I would argue a more appropriate designation would be “remote.”
Nebraska’s 62 Critical Access Hospitals and more than one hundred Rural Health Clinics operate under razor thin margins and must be financially sound, innovative, and hardy in order to meet the health care needs of patients in our state. To recognize the hard-working health care providers serving rural and remote communities in the Third District and around the country, this week I joined 50 of my colleagues to introduce a bipartisan resolution to designate November 21st as National Rural Health Day.
