Health Differences and Availability in Urban and Rural Areas

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People throughout their lives hear about “city folks” and “country folks”. Whether it was that city people were snobby or country people were dumb, there have been biases against both. However, many people do not know the definition of urban and rural, nor do they know about how healthcare differentiates between the two. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of urban is “of, relating to, characteristic of, constituting a city. (Merriam-Webster). Rural is defined as “of or relating to the country.” (Merriam-Webster).

There are 312,486,525 people living in America as of October 24, 2011 at 4:20p.m. (Unknown). Approximately 65 million Americans live where there are not enough primary care providers. (Herzer and Seshamani). Of this number, almost 50 million live in rural areas. (Herzer and Seshamani). But what is shocking is that although all these people live in rural areas, only 9 percent of the United States’ physicians practice in those areas. (Quality). This is due to the fact that physicians in urban areas make more money and have more chance at advancement in their careers.

Just as their definitions are complete opposite, so are they differences in health care. In urban areas and cities, there are hospitals in almost every town. The hospitals in these areas are known to have top of the line equipment and have top-notch medications. They are also first to get the newest advancements in technology. This is a huge help in the ability to treat huge numbers of people as quickly and efficiently as they do. Urban hospitals also have the profits to have many research programs, which help boosts their popularity and efficiency. Rural hospitals on the opposite side are not so lucky. In a lot of rural areas there ...

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