Misrepresenting Rural Americans in the Politics of Health Care Reform

Jean Chaude from Belgrade, Maine, has health insurance. As a small business entrepreneur, Jean used to sell antiques and volunteer with her church until she developed chronic arthritis and pulmonary problems. She buys private insurance, for which her premiums have risen 80 percent in the last four years and she has a $5,000 deductible. She quickly meets her deductible because just one of her medicines costs $1,800 a month--with insurance.

In Maine where, like many heavily rural states, private insurance companies enjoy little or no competition, it's no wonder that even with insurance, Jean has $12,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses each year. Recently, Jean had to move out of her house and into an efficiency apartment. She took out her ever first credit card to cover medical costs. And still she regularly skips doses of medicine because she simply can't afford the care she needs.

There are millions of Jeans in rural communities across the United States. A recent report, "Sweet the Bitter Drought: Why Rural America Needs Health Care Reform," released by the Center for Community Change and the Center for Rural Affairs, documents that while our broken health care system is affecting all Americans, rural Americans are disproportionately impacted. Rural Americans are more likely to be uninsured or under-insured than their urban counterparts and 82 percent of rural counties are classified as medically underserved areas. The report leaves little question that rural Americans like Jean have perhaps the most to gain from health care reform.

And yet politicians from rural states and districts, including Blue Dog Democrats and moderates on the Senate Finance Committee, have argued that rural voters oppose health care reform. They suggest that the few vocal screamers at town halls on television represent the silent majority. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pollster John Anzalone found that the plurality of swing voters in these rural districts support reform, including a robust public option. And when the Center for Community Change talked with hundreds of rural voters at county fairs this summer, we confirmed the broad support for reform.

Politicians who claim that rural voters oppose health care reform, including a public health insurance option, are looking for any excuse to help insurance company donors, rather than their constituents. The sad thing is, if politicians succeed in misrepresenting rural voters to kill reform, the quality of health care for Jean and everyone like her will only decline.

Follow Sally Kohn on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sallykohn

Comments

[babyboomerorig]

It's always amazed me that the rural Americans (in which I was born and raised) could vote against their best interests and be so willing to take what people say at face value. I'm still living in a rural area and can only roll my eyes at some of the old beliefs.

We are a trusting bunch and through the ages have been taught to trust what people say....after all, their word is their vow. We helped each other in the fields, building a barn, community dances and the ever-loving pot luck picnics.

My old community still takes food to the sickly, help a neighbor sheer their sheep, round up loose livestock that's broken through a fence and for every funeral in the area, there is a meal prepared for family and friends.

This is the conservatism of the past. Back then, and now, they still trust the conservatives to stand by their word and not let them down.

Poor things need to get rid of some of their old beliefs.

[Caliwoman]

I'm a rural American and I wish we had single payer health care yet alone a public option. My county has 18% unemployment. I am sure many people who can't find work and who can't afford COBRA anymore are hoping for a public health care option.

[batguano]

What is the common denominator in all the fights for reform we see in Congress? It is campaign donations and the million$ needed for a campaign and the ability of influence and big-money to determine the outcome, not what is good for the American people or our republic. Unless we demand campaign finance reform and an end to this corrupt influence, we will be down this road on every issue that pits the public against the wealthy and corporate campaign contributors. This health care reform case shows that definitively, with our reps manipulating data to support their sycophancy to campaign contributors at the expense of their constituents, many of who are in desperate need of reform and health care. How long will the American people allow the subversion of our democracy by the super-rich and influential corporations? The model for finance reform would assure every viable candidate an equal or a percentage share of public funding and free equal public-service access to the media, including print, TV, cable, radio and public debates; after all we provide the airways. Instead of only the rich representing the needs and interests of other rich, there would be the possibility of voting for a representative of modest means with a desire for real public service. Yeah, dream on, right?


Demand campaign finance reform!

[barbarajoan]

This is so outrageous. It's hard to believe that the rurual and /or sparsely populated states are the states where the congressional representatives are so obdurate about evening the scales to break the greed and avarice of the insurace and pharmaceutical industry. If we as a nation keep on this way we will no longer be a representative republic but a bought and paid for one. We are becoming a nation of the rich and super-rich with an ever shrinking middle class and an ever expanding poorer and less educated class.

[mamalisa38]

This video made me cry, as did Michael Moore's movie, Sicko. It also makes me realize that we have inhuman, uncaring, soulless people "representing" us in Washington and running these insurance companies.

I have two children, 18 and 23, who are working, have no health insurance and don't earn enough to pay for it. Heck, they can't even earn enough to move out.

I worry every single day that something will happen to one of them. How on earth would we pay for it? I guess we could always sell our home, which I would do in a second. How many times do we see jars in stores with a plea to help someone afford live saving medical care or someone having a fund raiser? Far to many times.

What a sad country we live in.

[Duppy]

Rural people need to protest in their best interest

[GunnyJ]

It's amazing that the only people in the United States who do not want to reform health care unless it favors the insurance industry are:
Republicans
Out of touch Demorcrats
The wealthy and rich (they are mostly indifferent)
Never do you see a republican from say South Carolina with a rural constituent who decries health care reform. How about John Boehner, where are his anti-health care constituents lined up despite his erroneous claims? Poor Alabama only has one Insurance Company in the whole state. You can only imagine how they are getting hosed!... Only in America....