Kansas Health Insurance
Kansas’s health status
After dropping from the 17th to the 23rd position in America’s Health Rankings in 2007, Kansas is starting to recover and regroup its health system, climbing back a spot and being ranked this year as the 22nd healthiest state in the Country. Some significant changes that helped turn around Kansa’s fall are the decrease in the prevalence of smoking from 20 to17.9%, and the decrease of the percentage of children in poverty (that decreased from 19.7 to 17.4 percent of persons under age 18). The High School Graduation percentage has gone up as well, with 79.2% of incoming 9th graders graduating. Since 1990, the incidence of infectious disease declined from 23.3 to 7.7 cases per 100,000 population.
Changes seems to be working for the best in Kansas, but with one of the Country’s worst public health funding (only $39 per person) and an increasing percentage of people lacking Health Insurance (the percentage of Kansas citizens that lack Health Insurance increased 1.2% last year, which is very alarming), accessibility of the Health system needs to be controlled so the system has a better use. The number of primary care physicians (roughly one for every 1,000 people in Kansas), and the high number of preventable hospitalizations also need to be controlled, so the care is also more adequate. Kansas ranks lower for health determinants than for health outcomes, indicating that overall healthiness may decline over time.
Highlights in Kansas’ health system include few poor mental and physical health days per month (at 2.6 and 3.1 days in the past 30 days respectively, Kansas is in the top ten rankings in the country). Also, a low incidence of infectious disease at 7.7 cases per 100,000 population. One of Kansas’ biggest accomplishments when it comes to health is the high immunization coverage with 81.7 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months receiving complete immunizations. If Kansas gets to work on some of their other issues the same way they have worked in these, the situation can change for the better within the state.
Public funding will be one of the key factors that can improve the health status of Kansas. The situation of the state is looking good, and if they keep working on the important issues the way they have been, things will be looking very good. They need to improve health care insurance plans so accessibility remains. With more funding, and more adequate and accessible care, health care in Kansas should get better.
Kansas health insurance information
About 87.5% of the citizens in Kansas have Health Insurance. Despite of the fact that the state has extremely poor government health funding, Kansas has an accessible health plan, but with an increasing number of people with no Health Insurance (12.5% this year, up 1.2% in a year), accessibility might be in stake if the current plans and policies begin to become unreachable. The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees is average in this state, standing at 50.8%, but it’s also starting to decrease. 74.2% of workers take advantage of the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers, a lower percentage than five years ago. It’s easy to see that the plans and health policies need to be revised so stop the negative tendencies.
Despite the rate of primary care physicians for the population is low (with 100.5 physicians per 100,000 population). Kansas has a good access to health, with an the percentage of population that could get medical care when needed at 89.4%. The patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL is very low, and it stands at 8.2%.
If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:
Best health plans in Kansas
The prestigious US News ranks yearly the best Health Plans in the country, polling and evaluating consumer assessment, prevention, and treatment offered by all plans. They gather information and rank the results, nation-wide and state-wide, showing on their results the best plans available for Kansas as well. The Rankings reflect results of consumer surveys and success in preventing and treating illness compared with average health plan.
Not only they rank Commercial Plans, they also rank Medicare or Medicaid plans, covering and evaluating as many plans as possible. If you want to browse their list of best-of, please go to the US News Health Plans Search site.
Get involved
If you are concerned about Kansas’s health care issues and want to speak out, your safest bet is to contact your federal official, either via phone or fax. Postal Mail is not recommended, since it takes too long, and e-mail might not be seen. Also, make sure you communicate with the right Member of the Senate and/or Congress.
If you want more guidance and tips on how to contact and communicate with your representatives, there are various sites on the internet that can help on how to contact your elected officials.
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Contact the White HousePHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) FAX: 1 202-456-2461 State officials:
Official Kansas health insurance information
| Recent Kansas health insurance newsHealth Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of Kansas and their welfare. Here are some of the latest news and updates on the current issues and news related to Health and Health Insurance for Kansas: |
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