Astudy by Texas A&M University has found that rural living can be deadly. A lack of emergency services in outlying areas is costing lives, notes The Rural Blog. The study found that, during an emergency, those living more than 30 minutes from an emergency health-care facility have a 46 percent mortality rate, compared to only 21 percent for those living within 30 minutes of a hospital.
As health care facilities continue to consolidate and the population at large grows older and more infirm by the year, the problem is expected to worsen. In the last decade fifty rural American hospitals have closed, and 283 more are at risk of closure. Researchers determined that access to healthcare was the number one concern of rural residents.