WALSENBURG, Colo. — Don’t tell Dorothy J. Tenorio that Washington is nearing a deal to improve her health care. A former grocery clerk, Tenorio’s been scraping by on disability benefits for more than a decade. The 60-year-old, and many of her neighbors, are skeptical health care overhauls pending in Congress will change much in Colorado’s rural San Juan Valley. ‘I would tell Congress, they need to get out here to Huerfano County and see how bad it is, see what we’re living with,’ said Tenorio, who suffered a neck injury in 1979 and hasn’t worked since 1996. In rural America, many like Tenorio are too poor to afford basic care. People who can afford doctors often can’t find them. The lack of health care in small towns like Walsenburg is a problem Congress is just beginning to address. Many folks in Huerfano County, population 7,900, depend on a low-cost outreach clinic for care. There’s no eye doctor, no full-time dentist. The clinic relies on nurse practitioners, midwives and medical assistants to provide basic exams, but most sick patients are referred to a bigger town about 30 minutes away. ‘I don’t have any way to get […]