In many rural areas, government funding encourages policy-related health
research. The purpose behind research of these design is to see how well national policies are helping or hurting rural communities in their strive for equal health care services.
My question however, is just how relevant is policy-research and receiving national attention. I feel like research of this nature are conducted federally and independently on a constant basis. Yet how much has this research been used in national policy-making decisions? Sometimes it seems like the federal government are simply handing out money for research so that they can say they are doing research and drafting policies that will change rural society. But are they really?
However, at the same time, the question may not be whether or not the federal government are taking into account the research and needs of rural communities in their policy-making; but rather, are rural necessities the same as urban necessities? Will making national policies tailored to the rural community hurt or neglect the more populated urban areas of the United States?
Perhaps here, in this question, is where research conducted year after year in rural areas come into play; to determine if lives are so different between rural and urban communities, if needs are different between the two, and whether or not national policies can tailor to both, at the same time.
