Nebraska Health Insurance

How healthy is living
in Nebraska?

Nebraska climbed three spots and is ranked as the 15th healthiest state in the 2012 edition of America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• More than 94 percent of young children receive recommended vaccinations.
• The infant mortality rate has decreased from 7.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2002 to 5.4 in 2012.

The bad news:

• While Nebraska's high school graduation rate ranks 10th in the nation, it dropped from 87.6 percent in 2008 to 82.9 percent in 2012.
• Nebraska ranks among the bottom five states for the binge drinking rate among adults.

Nebraska's best and worst category rankings:

• Immunization Coverage – 1st
• Poor Mental Health Days – 5th
• Poor Physical Health Days – 6th
• Occupational Fatalities – 33rd
• Infectious Disease – 36th
• Binge Drinking – 46th

more details

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

get local health results

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

Does Nebraska have a health insurance high risk pool?

Nebraska Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool
(402) 343-3574 or toll-free 1-877-348-4304 (M-F 8am-4:30pm)

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

• 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 Nebraska.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking the progress of health insurance reform in each state. Its page for Nebraska 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 Nebraska health insurance plan report cards.

Nebraska state government health insurance resources

Nebraska health insurance consumer alerts —  Published by the Nebraska Department of Insurance.

Nebraska health insurance rate reviews —  The Department of Insurance’s page for explaining health insurance rate increases.

Nebraska Kids Connection —  Health care coverage for qualified children developed by the State of Nebraska. It includes both the Children‚Äôs Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Nebraska Medical Assistance Program (also known as Medicaid).

Nebraska Medicaid Program —  DHHS administers the Medicaid Program which provides health care services to eligible elderly and disabled individuals and eligible low-income pregnant women, children and parents.

How did Nebraska 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 (3)

• Jeffrey Fortenberry

• Adrian Smith

• Lee Terry