Connecticut’s rural residents, who make up 9 percent of the state’s population, have far less access to health care services than their suburban counterparts, according to a new study released by the UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform & Modernization.
The study found that there are only 70 primary care physicians per 100,000 rural Connecticut residents, compared to 131 primary care physicians per 100,000 urban and suburban Connecticut residents. Â Â
Nationwide, rural Americans are more likely to receive lower quality health care through a highly fragmented local delivery system, to be obese, and to participate in public, taxpayer-funded health plans such as Medicare or Medicaid, the study said.
And 19.5 percent of rural residents report being in only ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ health compared with 15.6 percent of urban residents, the study found. Chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes are a bigger problem for rural populations than in urban or suburban areas.
Among other findings in the study is that:
•·        Nearly half of rural doctors nationwide expect to see a shortage of physicians and mid-level health professionals in the coming years.
•·        Nationwide, rural patients reported an average distance of about 60 miles between their local primary care physician’s office and a specialist’s office.
•·        There will be a potential increase of around 5 million insured rural residents nationwide by 2019-even as the number of physicians in rural America lags.
