Stacy Kranitz: Appalachia's Hospital Closures Are a Slow-Motion Health Care Emergency
Stacey Kranitz
Seeking out the stories flying under the national radar, The Nation and Magnum Foundation are partnering on What’s At Stake, a series of photo essays from across the country through the lenses of independent image-makers.
This week, Stacy Kranitz visualizes the devastating closures of hospitals throughout Appalachia
Read more in The Nation.
“Right now, coronavirus infections in rural communities are skyrocketing. Hospitals in eastern Tennessee, where I live, are reaching capacity. Yet we have the second highest rate of hospital closures in the country. Studies have found that states that didn’t expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act—states like Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas—have seen the most hospital closures. A number of factors also conspire to make the coronavirus particularly dangerous in Appalachia: With a disproportionately older population, and with high rates of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, the region has a large proportion of people who are at risk of hospitalization for virus complications.”