{"id":84467,"date":"2025-07-22T23:47:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T23:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84467\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T23:47:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T23:47:18","slug":"more-than-120m-americans-lack-adequate-access-to-health-care-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84467\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 120M Americans lack adequate access to health care, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 120M Americans lack adequate access to health care, study finds \u00a9 amazing studio – stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

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Over 120 million Americans live in counties lacking adequate health care access, according to new data from GoodRx Research<\/a>. More than 80% of U.S. counties are affected, from pharmacy<\/a> deserts to a lack of trauma care.<\/p>\n

Health care infrastructure has remained stagnant or worsened in many regions over the last half decade.<\/p>\n

The updated analysis builds on GoodRx\u2019s 2021 whitepaper<\/a> that mapped \u201chealth care deserts\u201d \u2014 areas with limited or no access to pharmacies, primary care, hospitals, emergency services or low-cost community health centers. Their 2025 update is troublingly consistent. Nearly one in three Americans lives in a county with one or more of these access gaps.<\/p>\n

Pharmacy closures widen the divide<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the most dramatic changes since the 2021 report is the expansion of pharmacy deserts. Over 48 million people now reside in counties where the nearest pharmacy is more than a 15-minute drive away \u2014 up from 41 million in 2021.<\/p>\n

That now accounts for 45% of all U.S. counties.<\/p>\n

The farther patients live from pharmacies, the harder it is for them to access timely medications, especially in the midst of national drug shortages. A recent GoodRx survey<\/a> found nearly one in five Americans had to visit multiple pharmacies to fill a single prescription.<\/p>\n

Hospital and trauma access remains static<\/strong><\/p>\n

Access to hospital care has not improved in four years. Today, 28 million people live more than 30 minutes from a hospital, 79 million live in areas with fewer than two hospital beds per 1,000 residents and 50 million are over an hour from a trauma center.<\/p>\n

Roughly 20% of counties remain hospital deserts. For trauma centers, that figure is 38%.<\/p>\n

Extended travel times to receive emergency care can worsen outcomes. The concept of the \u201cgolden hour\u201d \u2014 the critical first hour after a traumatic injury \u2014 underscores the risk of delayed treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen accessing a trauma center, every second counts,\u201d the researchers wrote. \u201cAppropriate hospital care may be too far away to survive a serious injury or illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Primary care remains strained<\/strong><\/p>\n

While official shortage area designations have declined, the report attributes this drop to a federal reclassification, not actual gains in workforce.<\/p>\n

In these shortage areas, a single full-time primary care physician may be responsible for more than 7,500 patients<\/a> \u2014 well over twice the recommended caseload.<\/p>\n

Community health centers have become slightly more accessible, with 71 million people now living in health center deserts, down from 78 million in 2021. But the gains may be short-lived, as federal funding faces threats in Washington.<\/p>\n

Multiple deserts per county are common<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nearly 60% of U.S. counties are home to more than one kind of health care desert, and eight million Americans live in counties with at least four types of access gaps.<\/p>\n

States with the highest percentage of residents in health care-desert counties include:<\/p>\n