Health Insurance Coverage in North Carolina: The Rural-Urban Uninsured Gap.

One of the primary drivers of health is being covered by health insurance. A review of available literature found a wide range of effects of health insurance, including a 20% relative reduction in mortality among previously uninsured people who become eligible for Medicare. Many factors lead to lower rates of health insurance coverage in rural areas compared to urban areas: for example, rural residents typically have lower incomes, more employment in small businesses that are often economically unable to provide health insurance for their employees, and lower enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace (“Obamacare” plans). In this piece, we present data on the disparity in health insurance coverage between urban (metropolitan) and rural (nonmetropolitan) counties in North Carolina.