Here’s what to do if you live in an area that lacks obstetric care and maternity resources.
, director and founder of the Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice at Tufts University. “A statistic that I think is very stark is that 30 percent of rural communities of color are at least 30 miles away from maternity care, versus 18 percent of mostly white rural areas,” she says. “This is the root of these inequities in the healthcare system. And the ability for women to access care is rooted in structural racism. That’s how we really look at the broader lens of inequity.
“One of the main factors that has been singled out is the relatively fast succession of closings of obstetric units and hospitals that are located in more rural areas,” says Markus. According to the, between 2010 and 2021, 136 hospitals in rural areas closed entirely, with other facilities closing just obstetric units.
When a community doesn’t see many births in a year, it can seem hard to justify the expense of these dedicated services. And this is becoming even more pronounced as rural areas become less populated. According to the, 86 percent of Americans live in metropolitan areas, and cities have seen rapid growth in contrast with only modest population growth. This means that even fewer people are living in already sparsely populated rural areas. As residents leave rural areas, so do doctors.
Amutah-Onukagha notes that insurance reimbursement can also be challenging in the best of circumstances, and people in these low-resource areas tend to use Medicaid, which is reimbursed at a lower rate than private insurance. Maternity and newborn-related costs, from labor to supplies, make up the top expenditure category for payments made to hospitals by insurance companies.
The COVID-19 pandemic certainly didn’t help things either. Though it’s too soon to tell the full impact, we already know that it resulted inin lost revenue for US hospitals and healthcare systems, not to mention the emotional and physical toll it has taken on doctors, nurses and other support staff. The healthcare shortage is only predicted to worsen as a result.
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