Kentucky health insurance

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status report:
Kentucky state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Kentucky state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Kentucky 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)

• Geoff Davis
• Brett Guthrie

• Harold Rogers
• Edward Whitfield

Our
Pick

No (2)

• Ben Chandler
• John Yarmuth

how healthy is living in Kentucky?

Kentucky fell a few spots from last year's #41 ranking, taking over as the 44th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Kentucky was praised in 2010 for its particularly low rate of binge drinking, 11.8 percent of the population, which puts it in the top ten states with regard to that statistic.
• Its already relatively low rate of violent crime decreased in the last year from 296 offenses to 259 offenses per 100,000 individuals of the population.

The bad news:

• Kentucky has the lowest ranking in the nation for both smoking (that is, it has the highest percentage of smokers in the nation, at 25.6 percent of the overall population).
• It also has the worst ranking for its rate of deaths due to cancer, though its rate of deaths due to cardiovascular disease has seen a decline since 2000.
• Obesity has increased in Kentucky since 2005 from 25.8 to 32.3 percent of the population.

Kentucky's best and worst category rankings:

• Prevalence of binge drinking – 6th
• Violent crime – 15th
• Early prenatal care – 19th
• Deaths due to cancer – 50th
• Poor physical and mental health days – 50th
• Prevalence of smoking – 50th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Kentucky.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Kentucky 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 Kentucky here.

get local health results

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

does Kentucky have a health insurance high risk pool?

Kentucky Access
Toll-free 1-866-405-6145

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

how to find health insurance in Kentucky

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Kentucky and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Kentucky.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Kentucky health insurance guide

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Kentucky.

Health insurance plan report cards for Kentucky

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Kentucky health insurance plan report cards.

Kentucky government health insurance resources

Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services – The health insurance section of the official state site.

Kentucky Department of Insurance – seeks to promote sound, competitive insurance markets and protect the public through effective enforcement and regulation, and empower the public through outreach and education.

Kentucky State Publications on Health Insurance – scroll down to the health insurance section.

Federal Government sites with specific Kentucky Information

Noting above that Kentucky residents take a disproportionate number of mental health days, here the National Mental Health Information Centers lists Kentucky Mental Health Resources published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Consumer groups working for universal health insurance for Kentucky

KYHealthCare.org – a joint project of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care and Physicians for a National Health Program – Kentucky.

Kentucky Jobs With Justice – an organization working for employee rights.