Healthcare Issues In Kentucky

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. 

 

Healthcare is such a huge issue facing so many families. There are many families that can’t afford to have health insurance. If you can afford health insurance, you are probably paying huge premiums and you have very high deductibles and copays. 

If you have employee paid health insurance, you don’t have to pay for your monthly premiums, but you may still have high copays and deductibles.

Anytime my kids are sick and I need to take them to their doctor – I have to pay $40.

If their doctor can’t see them, I have to go to an urgent care facility and that is considered a specialty doctor and my copay jumps up to $75. 

I am very blessed to have insurance through my husband’s job – but I think about all the people all over Kentucky that do not have access to the medical care they need because they can’t afford it. 

They don’t have access to preventive care so that they can cure their issues before they become bigger, incurable illnesses. 

Unfortunately, our KY leaders are receiving huge donations from the very same health insurance companies keeping our costs so high.

 

Here are some facts about healthcare issues facing Kentuckians according to a KHIP Survey: 

• Three in 10 Kentucky adults report fair or poor health (31%). These Kentuckians frequently cite a current health problem or access to healthcare as barriers to health improvement.
• Two-thirds of Kentucky adults (65%) report it would be difficult or very difficult to make a positive health change.
• Kentuckians report time, money and motivation as barriers to health change.

More than 1.2 million people in Kentucky are covered by Medicaid (22% of the total population). While seven in ten (74%) enrollees are children and adults, more than half (53%) of the state’s Medicaid spending is for the elderly and people with disabilities.

 

There is also the risk of not being able to access healthcare when needed in rural areas of Kentucky. According to Lanereport.com 16 rural hospitals in Kentucky at high risk of closing and 35 in poor financial health. 

Check out this health improvement study to learn more about healthcare and how they are looking to improve it over the next few years. There is a lot that can be done to help with these issues facing Kentuckians. 

Data from KyBRFS shows that Kentuckians with lower educational achievement (less than high school completion vs. college graduate) and with a lower annual income (less than $25,000 annual household income vs. $50,000 or more) suffer from: 

• Up to three times higher rates of diabetes
• Double the rate of coronary artery disease
• Over four times higher rates of poor health habits (i.e., smoking) 
• Triple the number of reported poor mental health days 

Do you have access to healthcare? What keeps you from having health insurance? And if you have health insurance, do you still avoid going to the doctor because you have to pay too much money out of pocket?