Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Jul 30, 2015

What Do the Medicare and Medicaid Programs Mean to Rural Health?

Medicare and Medicaid 50th AnniversaryJuly 30th, 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Today, Medicare and Medicaid are significant sources of health coverage in rural areas, greatly contributing to healthcare access for rural people. These programs are also critical sources of reimbursement for rural providers and facilities.

To better understand the impact of these program in rural America, we asked experts in the field to answer the question:

"What do the Medicare and Medicaid
programs mean to rural health?"


Ensuring Access to High Quality Medical Care, Now and in the Future
by Alan Morgan, Chief Executive Officer, National Rural Health Association

Medicare's Impact on Graduate Medical Education and the Rural Physician Workforce
by Wayne Myers, a retired pediatrician and rural medical educator who directed the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy from 1998 through 2000 and was President of the National Rural Health Association in 2003

An Enormous Force for Good in Rural America
by Thomas Hoyer, a retired senior executive for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) who recently completed two terms as a member of the National Advisory Council on Rural Health and Human Services

Medicare Payments to Address the Maldistribution of the Health Workforce
by Thomas C. Ricketts, Deputy Director, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research

Sustainability of Local Healthcare Services
by Keith Mueller, Director, Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis

This article was posted in Features and tagged Health insurance · Healthcare business and finance · Medicaid · Medicare · Policy