Sidney Watson teaches at the Saint Louis University School of Law.
She was a guest lecturer at WVU’s College of Law Thursday and told a room full of law students that rural Americans face an uphill struggle to receive quality health care.
These challenges include the lack of employers that provide health care, the shortage of hospitals, and fewer health insurance options. Watson says in cities with fewer than 25 thousand people, nearly one in four citizens are uninsured.
"The other problem is a lack of health insurers in rural areas. Over the last decade, we’ve had 400 mergers in the health insurance industry," she said.
"In most areas in this country, there is one or two insurers who predominate in the market. That is more so in rural areas. There is no dynamic going on, it’s also the reason we are seeing record profits from for profit health insurers."
Following the lecture, Watson participated in a panel discussion focused on West Virginia’s situation.
Chris Plein is Chair of the Division of Public Administration at WVU, and was a panel member.
"Where is rural health care in West Virginia? It’s everywhere. I go to bed at night, and my house is in the flight path of the helicopters that are going to Ruby," he said.
"Where are those helicopters coming from? They are coming from across our state. Those of us who have gone across the state recognize just how important it is to have health care access in a community."
Some of the discussion targeted current efforts to reform the health care system.
Watson says there is a great deal of misinformation about what the legislation would do.
She says rural Americans stand to gain a great deal from health care reform.
"What the statisticians tell us is that in rural areas, if this bill passes, we are probably going to see something like 96 percent of rural residents with health insurance," she said.
"And that is going to be primarily private insurance, because we’re going to reform private insurance, we’re going to have standardized benefits so that it covers the care that people need."
Joel Halverson, another panel member and associate professor in WVU’s Pharmacy school, says health reform efforts should focus on more than just providing care.
"Reducing the need for care. And by that I mean focusing more on prevention, health literacy, and those types of things so fewer people need to take advantage of the health care system," he said.
The lecture was the third in a series at WVU organized by the West Virginia Law Review.