Rural Minnesotans face a variety of health challenges. Rural residents are more likely to get health care through public sources, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Minnesota Care. While health care facilities are distributed throughout the state, they are more spread out in rural areas, and there is a severe shortage of all provider types, especially in primary care and mental health. --- Minnesota Department of Health.

• 80% of Minnesota counties qualify as mental health professional shortage areas.
• Rural Minnesotans are more likely to smoke cigarettes, have more chronic conditions, report poorer health status, and experience higher rates of frequent mental distress and suicide
• More barriers to getting screened for cancers, such as education and proximity or access to health care services, often mean later cancer diagnosis and higher mortality in those areas.