People living in rural areas often complain that the people in power forget about them. That's a lot of people to forget about: 15% of the US population. One of the issues is that health outcomes are poorer in rural areas... people have more health problems, and shorter life spans.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is aware of rural health disparities, but had no entity focused on rural health, until recently. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon joined other senators in requesting funding for a new Office of Rural Health within the CDC.
Sen. Merkley visits for an overview of what ORH will do.