Across large parts of the U.S., more than 60% of residents are connected to a post office slated for consolidation, with some counties topping 80%. And these are the same communities — often rural, older, and managing chronic conditions — that depend most on timely mail-order medications, according to research from The Brookings Institution. Mail-order pharmacy use increases roughly 20% for every 10 miles farther a patient is from a pharmacy. About 6% of U.S. residents, or roughly 3.7 million Medicare beneficiaries, face a triple burden of limited pharmacy access, high mail-order use, and exposure to postal network restructuring.