Rural Americans on Financial Security and Health Care
About half of rural Americans say they could not afford to pay an expected expense of $1,000, according to new survey data from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The poll also found that about 40 percent of rural Americans struggle to pay for routine medical bills, and a quarter say they were not able to get medical care when they needed it at some point in recent years. Despite those numbers, rural Americans reported optimism and satisfaction with their communities and quality of life.