In rural CA, a debate on how to save a hospital

NPR, August 20, 2010

Rural hospitals across the nation have struggled to stay afloat. There are, of course, fewer patients in rural areas, and many of them are on public health insurance programs that pay far less than private insurers. Residents in Modoc County, in the remote northeastern corner of California, will soon vote on whether to tax themselves to save their local hospital. The county has gone broke trying to keep the hospital open, and a fractious debate has erupted in this proudly conservative frontier community over the best way forward.