# The Rural Healthcare Crisis

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/marketplace-all-in-one-432449/the-rural-healthcare-crisis
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/marketplace-all-in-one-432449/the-rural-healthcare-crisis.md
Podcast: [Marketplace All-in-One](https://stenobird.com/podcast/marketplace-all-in-one-432449)
Published: 2026-06-21T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.marketplace.org/episode/2026/06/21/the-rural-healthcare-crisis
Audio file: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/play.publicradio.org/podcast/o/marketplace/morning_report/2026/06/21/mmr_20260621_MMR_Alabama_pod_64.mp3?awCollectionId=mkp-AllNOne&awEpisodeId=01KVDE6J1BT94C0CWF66WSPPB8
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/marketplace-all-in-one-432449/episodes/the-rural-healthcare-crisis
Duration seconds: 1513

## Resource

With midterm elections just months away, the top economic concern for voters is the cost of healthcare. That's according to a recent poll from the health policy nonprofit KFF. With that in mind, the “Marketplace Morning Report” team traveled to southwest Alabama to learn more about how policy decisions at the national level lead to consequences for health care access in local communities across rural America. Many of the people we met often have to travel hours for basic healthcare needs. And experts say that’s a fate that lies ahead for even more communities because of changing federal policies. In the absence of action to address health care shortages, many communities are turning within, leaning on each other and their own resilience to navigate the complicated landscape of what services remain.

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## Transcript

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