Medical … we don't have that”: (Not) accessing healthcare in rural new Mexico

Lack of access to healthcare is a problem that impacts many rural communities throughout the United States and was particularly problematic during the pandemic. This qualitative study looks at the impact of distance to healthcare on usage in northern New Mexico using interview data from 58 members of a Hispanic majority county in the summer of 2021. As a place that has never had robust healthcare access, northern New Mexico is representative of a problem facing many rural, isolated communities throughout the United States. The findings show how these well-known access-related problems contribute to reduced willingness to seek healthcare the first place—that is, a chronic erosion of trust deterred people from accessing help when they need it. The study contributes to the known causes of distrust in healthcare in the United States and also the literature about healthcare related behaviors people of different ethnic backgrounds use in rural settings. Specifically, it provides a narrative behind a lack of use of available local services offering different explanations than previous secondary data has suggested.