Kansas Health Insurance

How healthy is living
in Kansas?

Kansas is ranked 24th in the United Health Foundation's 2012 comparison of health status across the 50 states. Kansas has consistently rated in the middle of the pack for the past six years.

The good news:

• Deaths from cardiovascular disease dropped from 321.1 to 260.3 deaths per 100,000 people over the past ten years.
• While still lagging that of most other states, public health funding has increased by $8 a person over the past five years.

The bad news:

• More than 630,000 adults in Kansas are obese, and 26.8 percent have a sedentary lifestyle.
• The percentage of children in poverty has risen over the past ten years, from 13.6 percent to 21.1 percent.

Best and worst category rankings for Kansas:

• Poor Physical Health Days – 9th
• Poor Mental Health Days – 9th
• High School Graduation – 15th
• Primary Care Physicians – 37th
• Occupational Fatalities – 39th
• Public Health Funding – 46th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Kansas.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Kansas health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Kansas here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Kansas, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Does Kansas have a health insurance high risk pool?

Kansas Health Insurance Association
Toll-free 1-800-362-9290 (M-F 8am-5pm)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Kansas started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Kansas's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

Non-profit sources of health insurance information for Kansas

• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's mission is to provide simplified public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access coverage. Here is its guide on how to find health insurance in Kansas.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking the progress of health insurance reform in each state. Its page for Kansas can be found here.
• The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers. Search for Kansas health insurance plan report cards.

Kansas state government health insurance resources

Kansas Health Wave —  Kansas’ SCHIP – helps qualifying low-income families get health insurance for their children ages 18 and under. Under Kansas’ program, adults living in the same household may also qualify for coverage. See the site for more details.

Kansas Department of Insurance – Health Insurance Section —  Includes a variety of resources for Kansans seeking health insurance coverage.

Kansas Medicare —  Kansas Medicare Wheatlands Administrative Services, a new subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, conducts Medicare business on behalf of the state.

How did Kansas officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (4)

• Tim Huelskamp

• Lynn Jenkins

• Mike Pompeo

• Kevin Yoder