Posted January 16th, 2022 at 10:25am by Nikoel Hytrek

In Dr. Glenn Hurst’s mind, expanding health care is what it will take to revitalize rural Iowa.

Hurst is running in the Democratic primary for US Senate in hopes of challenging Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. The southwest Iowa resident said having a Medicare for All infrastructure is one of the most important things to implement in Iowa and would push for it in the Senate.

“I don’t just see it here in my community. I see it everywhere,” Hurst said. “How health care has just diminished in availability. We’ve seen a diminishing population in our rural communities. And I see it as a place where we could invest in the infrastructure that could revitalize and make those communities viable again.”

Hurst said Medicare for All would expand the options people in small towns have because they could go to whatever doctor they wanted. It would also increase the demand for doctors because of how many more people would have the coverage to go to doctors rather than emergency rooms.

“Medicare for All does a variety of things for communities, individuals, and providers,” Hurst said. “For communities, it puts money into brick and mortar structures. It also puts reimbursement on the table for services that are provided that are frequently denied and not paid for by private insurance. It also opens up the number of patients available to that facility. There’s no closed networks in Medicare for All.”

He’s the only doctor in his town of Minden, in Pottawattamie County, but he only sees about a third of the population because private insurance companies make patients drive 30 minutes out of town to see in-network doctors.

more...https://iowastartingline.com/2022/01/16/dr-glenn-hurst-universal-health-care-can-revitalize-rural-iowa/