[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 781-782]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE OF RURAL HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, before I was elected to 
serve in the House of Representatives, I spent nearly 30 years in the 
nonprofit healthcare field assisting those individuals who were facing 
life-changing diseases and disability. Additionally, as a member of my 
home community, I have volunteered for decades as an emergency medical 
technician, serving my neighbors in their time of trauma or medical 
emergency needs.
  I am acutely aware of the challenges many face when it comes to 
obtaining reasonably priced health care. It is especially critical for 
rural America, like much of the Fifth Congressional District of 
Pennsylvania.
  We are facing a healthcare crisis in our Nation's rural areas. These 
often disadvantaged populations are still struggling to access 
affordable, quality care. Many remain uninsured. Many find themselves 
newly uninsured as a result of the pressures and the demands and the 
mandates of the Affordable Care Act. Most are underinsured; however, 
access to quality care really does remain the largest challenge.
  Even when people gain access to health insurance or coverage, it does 
not equal access to care. Rural hospitals across the country are 
closing, leaving patients without access to their emergency rooms and 
long-term care facilities. When you close a hospital in a rural area, 
the result is a commute that means the difference, frequently, between 
life and death.
  Eighty rural hospitals have closed since 2010. One in three rural 
hospitals are financially vulnerable. At the current closure rate, more 
than 25 percent of rural hospitals will close in less than a decade.
  As this Congress examines ways to improve our Nation's healthcare 
system, we must not forget that rural health care is unique and 
requires different programs to succeed.
  In addition to hospital closures, a workforce shortage plagues rural 
America; 77 percent of more than 2,000 rural counties in the United 
States are designated as having a shortage of healthcare professionals. 
Recruitment and retention of experienced professionals, including 
primary care physicians, is an ongoing challenge.

                              {time}  1015

  Mr. Speaker, no matter how you pay for health care, if there are not 
qualified and trained professionals in those communities, healthcare 
access does not exist. Congress must act to stop cuts to rural 
hospitals and strengthen the healthcare workforce in underserved areas.
  Furthermore, the opioid epidemic that is sweeping the Nation has 
ravaged our rural communities, leaving even more of the population in 
need of crucial health services. Adolescents and young adults living in 
rural areas are more vulnerable to opioid abuse than their urban 
counterparts. The prevalence of fatal drug overdoses has skyrocketed in 
rural areas. High unemployment and a greater rate of the types of 
injuries that result in prescriptions for opioid medications have 
contributed to this.
  For these reasons, I again look forward to cosponsoring the Save 
Rural Hospitals Act in the 115th Congress. We must ensure access to 
health care for Americans living in rural areas.
  On average, trauma victims in rural areas must travel twice as far as 
victims in urban areas to the closest hospital. As a result, 60 percent 
of trauma deaths occur in rural areas, even though only 20 percent of 
Americans live in rural areas.
  The Affordable Care Act was supposed to help cut costs for health 
care, but that did not happen for everyone. American families have 
found out the hard way, with increased taxes, looming regulations, and 
a slew of broken promises, from untrue cost controls to limitations on 
consumer choice. We were told that, ``if you like your coverage, you 
can keep it.'' Well, that was not even close to being true.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to fix our flawed 
healthcare system. Currently, healthcare costs have gone up, premiums 
have increased by double digits, but choices have decreased. 
Deductibles are so high that

[[Page 782]]

many Americans, despite having ``coverage,'' cannot afford to seek care 
under that coverage. Well, that is not right. It is not fair, and it is 
not feasible. There must be a better way, and I know together we can 
work to find a stable transition to a 21st century healthcare system 
that works for everyone in America, particularly for those in rural 
regions where the need is great and the services are scarce.

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