Daily Blog: Health Care Reform

As Washington debates health care reform, small cities are beginning to weigh in with their opinions:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jm7E5xLjoYH6pQdibuDrY3LcJhjwD99Q7ND04

Walsenburg, Colorado has just over 4000 residents. And many of those residents worry that the debate in Washington ignores the realities of health care in smaller cities. According to the article:

"Small towns often lack specialists and rely on family physicians. But even incentives such as covering student debt for new doctors haven't worked. Many small towns look to nurse practitioners for general care or seek foreign doctors using J-1 visa waivers.

"According to the Washington, D.C.-based National Rural Health Association, only about 10 percent of U.S. physicians practice in rural areas. The problem: Medical students know they can make more money, and work shorter hours, in a specialty practice in a city."

The folks in Walsenburg are less interested in increasing access to health insurance and more interested in seeing Congress fund clinics that provide basic care.

It's an important distinction that reflects the difference between health care in a big city and health care in a small city.