Rural men and women are more likely to be pulling the night shift than are urban workers. So finds a new study from the Carsey Institute, at University of New Hampshire.

Sociologist Rogelio Saenz studied when workers, metro and non-metro, arrived at the job. He found that rural people were over-represented in non-traditional shifts; a higher ratio of rural workers clocked in after noon and before 6 a.m.

Saenz further found that white workers were proportionally most likely to be employed during the “traditional” work hours, whereas “those who tend to be more marginally tied to the labor force (persons of color, the foreign-born, those with English-speaking limitations, and the poor) tend to be more likely to work during the early morning, afternoon, and evening hours."

Saenz notes that people on second and third shifts may be deprived of “normal” social opportunities – like school activities and access to health care and day care.

There is also mounting evidence that night-shift workers have a greater incidence of cancer and other illnesses.

North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad (above) is reaching into rural America's past to find a solution to the nation's health care problem. (Health care in this country costs too much, has only mediocre results and it leaves 45 million with no coverage at all.) Conrad  suggests creating health care co-ops to compete  with private insurers. "Mr. Conrad said his proposal stems from his experience with the rural electricity, farming and telephone co-ops in his state that are owned and run by members," according to the Wall Street Journal.

There aren't many details to the co-op scheme, although it is gaining favor among Senate Democrats. The notion is that the co-op would sell insurance to small businesses or individuals, who would then become part owners of the entity. These co-ops would negotiate rates and maybe even hire some of their own doctors.

There are those who don't think much of the idea. They point out that the Blue insurance companies started out as non-profits. Half of all people covered in the U.S. are in non-profit health plans, says another critic, yet there is no difference in prices. Another criticism might be that electric co-ops aren't always great for consumers either. The leaders of a large Texas rural electric cooperative were indicted for arranging payments of co-op money to relatives of co-op executives. 

The good thing about rural America is that people make their own way. It's a place where small business thrives. Then again, the bad part about rural America is that more people work for small businesses, which, in this country, means that fewer people have health insurance.  National Public Radio's Howard Berkes reports, "Half of all jobs in rural places are tied to small businesses, a rate 13 percent higher than in cities and suburbs. And people who work for small businesses are twice as likely to be uninsured, according to Jon Bailey of the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons, Neb....Also common in rural areas are farmers and ranchers, who disproportionately depend on individual insurance plans."

"Health insurance is killing rural America," farmer Linus Solberg (above) told Berkes. "Because people just can't keep up and pay their bills. And that shouldn't be in America. "We can put people on the moon," he said. "We can go up and fix this Hubble satellite that we have up there. And we can't have health care for all these people. It's ridiculous."

As the nation begins a long debate about the future of health care, little has been written (or spoken) about the special needs of rural communities. Berkes sheds some light on why the health care discussion needs to have a special place for rural Americans.

Just last year, farmers were rejoicing in high commodity prices. This year, the Denver Post's Miles Moffeit reports, "increasing numbers of farmers are considering taking their lives." The Iowa-based Sowing Seeds of Hope provides help lines for farmers in seven Midwestern states and reports that there has been a 20 percent increase in calls this year compared to the same period in 2008. The Seeds of Hope hotline received 9,000 calls through May in 2008; this year, about 11,000 have called.

"The increase in calls really started with the change in dairy prices, as they fell last fall," said Mike Rosmann, a clinical psychologist and farmer who heads Sowing the Seeds of Hope. "We're starting to see the stress mount. It's a nationwide problem." In Colorado, Moffeit reports, "the collapse of the state's largest agricultural lender, New Frontier Bank of Greeley, has further exposed personal plights. Farmers on the edge of bankruptcy have tearfully pleaded for help from government leaders in recent public meetings." The greatest increase in calls to the Seeds of Hope hotline have come from dairy and hog farms. Calls from those farm operators have jumped 40 percent from 2008

Congress has considered a Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, but hasn't passed the bill. The National Farmers Union is lobbying federal officials to activate a national hotline network, according to the Post.