To Me this falls under the heading of CURE POVERTY. When we have a mindset that everyone deserved adequate pay, we will also take care of health care to the rural communities.

 I know of a doctor who gave a year or two to the rural town of Jackman ME. He had a portion of his student loans forgiven.

If you want more details about ending opoverty check out the 3 horses, at Poverty and homeless sites

The high cost of health care and the fact that so many employees do NOT offer health care benefits for their employees results in little to no preventative measures.  Individual outside health care can costs can run the average lay worker almost as much as he/she make per month.   Something is wrong with the picture!

LOOK @ FOOD COSTS
Another thing to consider when looking at the causes for the obesity and other related health issues can be seen when we review what a family income is versus what foods are made affordable. It is known that the sugar industry receives government intervention and sugar is known and proven to be addictive and the cause for much of the health deterioration of generations of consumers.  

It is almost out of reach of the average "rural" American to afford the luxury of eating healthy, going to a fitness center, nor the sheer indulgence of attending a yoga retreat or health spa. 

WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Education!  Bring it to the people.

The RAM Clinic Visits Rural TN
In one very rural part of Tennessee a group of artists, yoga studios, musicians, doctors, dentists, and the communities who needed healing came together.  The RAM (Remote Area Medical Team) came to Van Buren, Tennessee to bring the medicine to the people.  April 18 & 19, 2009 was a great weekend for hundreds of local people who drove hours, stood in line all night just to recieve FREE medical | dental | vision care.

Health Retreat at State Park
Just up the road at Fall Creek Falls State Park the "Get Back to NATURE(al)" Weekend Retreat took place.  Lessons on sustainable living from Broadened Horizons provided insightful and useful information for everyone who attended.  The Georgia Career Institute brought massage tables, chairs, and an open heart as they provided free massage for park guests and employees! 

I lived in rural AZ (ok, technically reservation), rural NM (not reservation but much of the surrounding area was reservation) and I grew up in a rural CA farming town (yes, those still exist even now).  The points that good food and stuff like gym memberships are not affordable to the poorer members of our society is VERY important - no matter which poor or where they're located (even urban poor).  It's the "junk" or otherwise unhealthy food that's "affordable. Exercise, beyond jogging, walking or riding any bike you might already own is generally out of the question and even so - the minimal cost of maintaining equipment or replacing stuff like tires or shoes often pushes the limits of the budget.

Complicating this, many rural employers (and urban lower wage employers) will do all they can to avoid letting employees qualify for benefits.  Thus you see a lot of part time employees and even people with more than one part time job.  Ultimately you see a lot of people making "just enough" to disqualify them from just about anything beyond public health (presuming they're not in an area where it requires at least Medicaid).  Which just leads to more people who have to do what they can to survive on little income while eating unhealthy food, probably not exercising and - if lucky enough to qualify for public health - knowing you've likely got to drive an hour or more each way (if not urban) just to get to your appointments (if the place even makes appointments).

Ultimately, it's just another series of glaring examples of how this nation treats the poor as less than human or at least very inhumanely.

I think one of the key, painful aspects of this is to keep in mind that "healthcare reform", as currently being proposed in Congress and the Obama Admin, does not solve any problems related to access. Expanding insurance options will, in some small numbers, allow rural workers to become insured (as Danetta notes, it's the working poor just above poverty line who are the real uninsured issue)... but that will not guarantee a clinic or a hospital or a doctor's office able to provide care. Or that care will be affordable.

Then, too, one unfortunate liberal bogeyman in health reform is Medicare HMOs, which are targeted for large (and probably fair) cuts in funding that's been excessive... but we should keep in mind that rural seniors, who have access issues (and lack of services like exercise facilities) actually like Medicare HMOs, because it improves their options, and offers services they might not otherwise be able to get.

The point is that what we're solving for - and what fits a lot of people's mindset - is one part of a problem: expanding insurance, in theory, will help some workers, especially working poor (if subsidized properly) and children... but questions of access and of affordability of care have largely been left out of the discussion. Greg's done a great job of highlighting a generally invisible problem... but I think there's an illusion out there that, with Obama, we'll fix it. So far... there's nothing to suggest that.

Thank you for bringing light to this situation. I work at a homeless shelter in Austin, TX and see the reality of urban poverty and homelessness everyday. However, I have also spent time on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the poverty is almost unimaginable. Not everyone of course, some people are successfull and doing well, but about 97% of the residents live below the federal poverty line; families subsist off of about $3500 a year!
I don't think any one of us can imagine that kind of poverty, yet they are resilient, humorous, and generous, simply wonderful people trying to devleop their own economy and maintain thier cultural identity.
Sadly, the health problems, crime, and violence is about 500% higher than the rest of the country - when people live in such poverty, it is hard to get nutritious and healthy meals, have access to healthcare, face depression and alcoholism, etc.
 I guess what I am trying to say is that whether someone is rurally or urban poor, we need to address all poverty in America. Thank you.

I agree with Danette that poverty is the root of many evils.
My father drunk himself to death at 52, because he could only get semi-skilled labor. He was treated like he had no worth and thats how he treated Mom and me, later the two sisters.

I dream about the day when not only Oprah does a feel bad show on poverty. But when she and other media sources does a revealing show on how many are actually in poverty -120 million rather than 40 million.

The federal poverty level has it WRONG. its not just 40 million who cannot feed themselves, but 120 million who can not afford eat healthy food. and pay rent. In fact another post has a report based upon government numbers where people can pay up to 3 FULL TIME jobs for rent.  and allow the voice of us poor to tell the solution. http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/barriers_to_
affordable_housing
That day will mark the beginning of the end of poverty.

So many sickness are caused by proverty, that you cannot talk about health prevention without mentioning poverty.

For every person in rural areas we reach 50 still need help. With all respect to those provide needed direct services, we rarely provide adequate health care. Even with traveling Retreats. 

It little matters if you live rural or urban if you can not afford the presciptions, you either wait and let nature heal you, orwait until you are acutely sick and need hospitalization. This causes the taxpayers extra money, big time.

Here in Tennessee one way we are trying to help address this type of issue is through education and new approaches to health care.  Working closely with the ACS (American Cancer Society) we are promoting a new way of thinking!  PREVENTION not Treatment.  We must become involved in our health care through conscious choices prior to the need for medical attention.   I firmly believe the sugar industry has infultrated and addicted an entire generation to something that tastes "sweet" going in - but in the end kills you slowly through heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, cancers...

When people, even our rural communities begin to "think" outside the poor mans box social change and health care reforms can take place.

I agree, rural / urban it matters not.  The common thread is our lower income families and individuals deserve health care, but they do need to become partners in this process. 
-------------------------------------
-Eat healthy foods
-Buy Local / organic when possible
-Get off the couch and into the world
-Cut sugar and other processed foods out
-Incorporate a stress management tool (meditation/walking)
-Think about what goes on/in the body. 
-Invest in a WATER PURIFICATION System for the home.
Chlorine - Floride = bad chemicals.  Should NOT be injested.

To break it down, there are people who own the businesses that make the money while they poison us.  They put chemicals into almost every product we purchase and knowingly do harm to their consumers.  Then there is the money to made through the medical profession who sees the patient, orders perscriptions or tests.

This mouse wants out of the lab!