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Safe drinking water is not really much of an issue in the United States outside of lead pipes in mostly urban areas. If you have a well you know to get it check

Safe drinking water is not really much of an issue in the United States outside of lead pipes in mostly urban areas. If you have a well you know to get it checked every few years. Sometimes it needs to be treated. If you are really concerned you run your drinking water through a water filter. I grew up on a well that was hundreds of years old and only about 15 feet deep. And it is still a good well to this day. Modern wells are hundreds of feet deep and are sealed. They are very safe. Access to healthcare is an issue depending on the area. There is zero financial incentive for healthcare workers to be in poor rural America. Really, though, it is a poverty issue. Rural areas, particularly those that were built around a specific and now defunct industry, such as coal mining, have a lack of available jobs and they are now unwilling to leave a town that no longer has a purpose to exist.

bradlys 5y ago
> There is zero financial incentive for healthcare workers to be in poor rural America. I've heard the opposite but it was all anecdotal. I heard surgeons and other doctors actually get paid a lot more to live in more rural areas because doctors generally don't want to live there so they have to do something to attract them.
- Dracophoenix 5y ago
  It depends on the particular area and specialty. Surgeons are paid top dollar everywhere. Physicians aren't generally paid well outside of major hospital systems. And psychologists are still viewed suspiciously in many parts of the country. As far as location is concerned, plenty of areas that are just 10 miles from a major metropolitan area are considered rural for census purposes. Owning a practice in a bucolic part of southern Connecticut is different from owning one in a Gold Rush ghost town. Population density is a still important, even if it matters less than it would for a major hospital system. Not to mention there's the dating factor. While this may not be an issue for late-career/semi-retired doctors, the younger or divorced ones will face an ethical and professional dilemma regarding dating patients in a small town on top of the usual stressors in being a doctor.
  - bradlys 5y ago
    I’m pretty sure by the time you’re done with your residency and are looking for long term employment - you’re in late 20s and early 30s as a doctor and are likely going to be very close to married or are married. Only issue will be if you’re married to another doctor and can’t find another position in that small town.
    - Dracophoenix 5y ago
      There are plenty of doctors that come out broken up, divorced, or single right out of medical school. Even though there's a high intra-occupational marriage rate among healthcare professionals, not everyone is in a position to benefit. If a freshly-minted doctor wants to have a chance at love outside of medical school, he/she would be in a better position in a big city than a small town.

bradlys 5y ago

> There is zero financial incentive for healthcare workers to be in poor rural America. I've heard the opposite but it was all anecdotal. I heard surgeons and other doctors actually get paid a lot more to live in more rural areas because doctors generally don't want to live there so they have to do something to attract them.

Dracophoenix 5y ago
It depends on the particular area and specialty. Surgeons are paid top dollar everywhere. Physicians aren't generally paid well outside of major hospital systems. And psychologists are still viewed suspiciously in many parts of the country. As far as location is concerned, plenty of areas that are just 10 miles from a major metropolitan area are considered rural for census purposes. Owning a practice in a bucolic part of southern Connecticut is different from owning one in a Gold Rush ghost town. Population density is a still important, even if it matters less than it would for a major hospital system. Not to mention there's the dating factor. While this may not be an issue for late-career/semi-retired doctors, the younger or divorced ones will face an ethical and professional dilemma regarding dating patients in a small town on top of the usual stressors in being a doctor.
- bradlys 5y ago
  I’m pretty sure by the time you’re done with your residency and are looking for long term employment - you’re in late 20s and early 30s as a doctor and are likely going to be very close to married or are married. Only issue will be if you’re married to another doctor and can’t find another position in that small town.
  - Dracophoenix 5y ago
    There are plenty of doctors that come out broken up, divorced, or single right out of medical school. Even though there's a high intra-occupational marriage rate among healthcare professionals, not everyone is in a position to benefit. If a freshly-minted doctor wants to have a chance at love outside of medical school, he/she would be in a better position in a big city than a small town.