Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Uninsured and underinsured

Disparities in Health and Health Care: 5 Key Questions and Answers
Defines health and healthcare disparities and discusses the social and economic inequities that drive them. Provides details on the current status of health disparities in the U.S., the importance of addressing them, and what the federal government is doing to alleviate health disparities. Includes discussion of rural health disparities.
Author(s): Nambi Ndugga, Samantha Artiga
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: KFF
view details
Rural Working-Age Adults Report More Cost Barriers to Health Care
Policy brief examining rural-urban differences in affordability of care and cost-saving strategies among adults ages 18-64. Features demographics and statistics on prescription drug cost-saving measures and difficulty affording medical care in the past year, with breakdowns by rural and urban location.
Author(s): Erika C. Ziller, Carly Milkowski, Amanda Burgess
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
view details
Rural Population Health in the United States: A Chartbook
Presents rural population health data by Census region and state, with some data by sex, race, and ethnicity. Includes U.S. maps showing county-level data as well as a variety of charts, including rural-urban disparity charts, state summary charts, and more. Topics addressed include access to care, health outcomes and risks, mortality, social determinants of health, and socioeconomic data.
Author(s): Randy Randolph, Sharita Thomas, Mark Holmes, et al.
Date: 02/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
view details
Engaging Rural Communities to Incorporate Social Determinants in Developing Strategies to Improve Access to Health Care in the Missouri Bootheel Counties
Presents a study on how social determinants of health affect healthcare access in several rural counties in Missouri. Discusses the perceived barriers to care in the rural "Bootheel" counties, such as economic issues, lack of health insurance coverage, and lack of coordinated care, among others.
Author(s): Ashish Shrestha, Katherine Stamatakis, Janice Ballard
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 23, 7678
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
view details
U.S Department of Health and Human Services Agency Equity Action Plan: 2023 Update
Offers overview of the 5 areas of focus for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for 2023. Areas of focus include child welfare, access to health insurance, maternal health outcomes, behavioral health, and clinical innovations. Includes rural specific actions. Highlights equity progress updates and accomplishments since the 2022 equity action plan.
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
view details
Community Sociodemographics and Rural Hospital Survival
Explores differences in specific community-level sociodemographic factors associated with the survival or closure of rural hospitals at risk of financial distress between 2010 and 2019. Examines the relationship between the risk of hospital closure and median family income, unemployment rate, uninsured rate, education, race, and more.
Author(s): Claudia A. Rhoades, Brian E. Whitacre, Alison F. Davis
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 2023(39), 643-655
Date: 2023
Type: Document
view details
Access and Coverage for Mental Health Care: Findings from the 2022 KFF Women's Health Survey
Presents data from the national 2022 KFF Women's Health Survey of 5,145 women and 1,225 men ages 18-64 where respondents were asked about their experiences in obtaining mental health services, including the use of telehealth, over the past two years. Data is focused on the mental health service needs of women by age, race/ethnicity, income, insurance, and on rural and urban telehealth usage.
Author(s): Karen Diep, Brittni Frederiksen, Michelle Long, Usha Ranji, Alina Salganicoff
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: KFF
view details
Minnesota Chartbook Section 6: Uninsurance, Forgone Care, and the Safety Net
Reports on uninsurance trends in Minnesota from 2007 to 2021. Discusses statewide measures, population groups, characteristics and potential access to coverage of the uninsured, and uncompensated care. Includes charts showing rural versus urban hospital uncompensated care expenses.
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Minnesota Department of Health
view details
Health and Health Care in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region
Examines the differences in sociodemographic characteristics, health coverage, access to care, and health outcomes of populations in the U.S.-Mexico border states to guide efforts addressing the needs of border communities. Analysis is based on 2019 county-level data from the American Community Survey (ACS) five-year data tables, Health Resources and Services Administration's Area Health Resource Files (AHRF), Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS), and 2020 data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) WONDER database.
Author(s): Drishti Pillai, Samantha Artiga
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: KFF
view details
State and Local Estimates of the Uninsured Population in the U.S. Using the Census Bureau's 2021 American Community Survey
Uses data from the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) to present state, county, and local estimates of the number of U.S. residents without health insurance and their demographic characteristics. Analyzes the population of uninsured individuals ages 0-64 by family income levels.
Date: 11/2022
Type: Database
Sponsoring organization: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
view details