Kentucky Health Insurance
Kentucky’s health status
Kentucky’s health status and its overall health care system seemed to be in trouble when it was ranked last year as one of the worst in the country by the United Health Foundation. Nevertheless, the state went from the worst rank to the best in over ten years, and this years is ranked 37th in America’s Health Rankings. Kentucky improved in several aspects greatly over the past year: public health funding increased last year (at $71/person is still low, but definitely improving), and the percentage of children in poverty decreased 2.5% to 21 percent of persons under age 18 in 2008. Kentucky regained honor of being the state with the lowest percentage of prevalence of binge drinkers (only 8.4%), and it also managed to increase the percentage of High School graduations by 2.9%.
Public funding, has been raised to an acceptable $71 per person, but despite the efforts to make health care more accessible for the Kentucky population, the number of primary care physicians is still low (with only 103.2 physicians per 100,000 people), and the percentage of population that lacks Health Insurance seems to be increasing again (14.5% of people in Kentucky have no Health Insurance, which is 0.6% more than last year). The state also has the dubious honor of being the second state with the highest number of preventable hospitalizations, which could indicate that health care could be used better.
Other factors that need to be looked upon are the high rates of cardiovascular and cancer-related deaths (Kentucky is the state with most cancer-related deaths in the Country). Air pollution has also increased over the past year, so environmental policies and plans should be evaluated to stop this. Despite being the state with the least prevalence of binge drinkers, it’s the state with the second largest percentage of smokers (28.2% of Kentuckians are smokers). Obesity is also an issue that needs to be looked upon, with 28.7% of the population obese. Kentucky ranks lower for health determinants than for health outcomes, indicating that overall healthiness may decline over time.
The increase in public funding seems to be working for Kentucky, and will be one of the key factors that can continue to improve the health status of Kentucky. If they keep working on the important issues the way they have been, the health care system and overall healthiness of the state can improve drastically. They need to improve health care insurance plans so accessibility remains.
Kentucky health insurance information
About 85.5% of the citizens in Kentucky have Health Insurance. Even though the state has been increasing public health funding, accessibility could potentially be a problem for Kentuckians, with an increasing number of people with no Health Insurance (14.5% this year, up 0.6% in a year), Adequate and accessible health plans might be in stake measures are not taken to stop the dropping Health Insurance rates. The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees is average in this state, standing at 57.1%, but it’s also starting to decrease. 80.9% of workers take advantage of the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers, a lower percentage than five years ago.
With the rate of primary care physicians for the population is low (with 103.2 physicians per 100,000 population). Kentucky still needs to work in the access to health. This shows with the low percentage of population that could get medical care when needed (82.3%). The patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL is low, and it stands at 14.6%.
If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:
Kentucky Health care
Kentucky Health Care is a joint project of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care and Physicians for a National Health Program. You can access their site at KYHealthcare.org
Best health plans in Kentucky
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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky’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.
 |  | |
Contact the White HousePHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) State officials:
Official Kentucky health insurance information
| Recent Kentucky health insurance newsHealth Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of Kentucky 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 Kentucky: |
Next Step
 |
 |
 |
