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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: Medicaid Crucial for Rural North Dakotans

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Monday, March 12, 2012   

BISMARCK, N.D. - Medicaid plays an especially vital role in rural America, a new analysis of health care finds. Report author Jon Bailey, director of research and analysis with the Center for Rural Affairs, says that is largely due to the demographics of small towns in places like North Dakota.

"Incomes tend to be lower in rural places. There also are more people with disabilities, and generally as a portion of the population, there are more seniors in rural communities than in urban communities."

The most recent data on Medicaid coverage shows that 16 percent of rural residents had Medicaid coverage in the past year, compared to 13 percent of urban residents.

While some may think of Medicaid as a classic "welfare program," Bailey disagrees. He says a majority of families with non-elderly Medicaid enrollees have at least one worker in the household, although their employer may not offer health insurance - and that impact flows down to their kids.

"Medicaid becomes the health insurance for children, which is very important because we want our children to be healthy. This is the one program we have that provides access to health care for those children."

Bailey believes it's important for the rural economy to keep these programs in place and strong.

"Rural hospitals and rural health clinics really depend upon Medicaid and Medicare for their survival. A lot of rural hospitals and clinics would have to close their doors if they didn't have Medicaid and Medicare funding."

The report, "Medicaid and Rural America," is available at http://files.cfra.org/pdf/Medicaid.pdf.




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