22
doc • Spring 2014
Kentucky
Guest Editorial
Dr. Susan Zepeda,
The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky
By Dr. Susan Zepeda
The Foundation for a
Healthy Kentucky is a
non-profit, non-partisan
philanthropic organization
committed to improving the
health of Kentuckians. We do this through
targeted research, polling and investment
in demonstration projects aimed at testing
ways to do health care differently or improve
community health. We seek to improve
access to care, reduce health risks and disparities, and promote health equity.
Each year, in partnership with the
Cincinnati-based Interact for Health
foundation, we fund the Kentucky Health
Issues Poll (KHIP). KHIP provides
health status and brief socioeconomic
profiles of the Commonwealth along with
Kentuckian’s views on health-related topics. Data collected through this telephone
survey includes responses from 1,551
Kentuckians. Researchers interview adults at
random. Both landline and cell phone interviews are conducted.
This research gives policymakers, and all of
us, a snapshot of Kentucky views. Topics
polled in the current 2014 reports include:
• Health insurance coverage
• Medicaid expansion
• Kynect
• Affordable Care Act
•
•
•
•
•
•
Smoke-free law
Eating fruits and vegetable
Physical activity
Oral health
Drinking water
Children’s health policy
Most recent KHIP findings show a majority of Kentuckians in support of a statewide
smoke-free law, have heard about kynect,
the state’s insurance marketplace, and support the governor’s decision to expand
Medicaid. With respect to the Affordable
Care Act (ACA), almost 6 in 10 Kentucky
adults (57 percent) reported not having
enough information to know whether the
healthcare reform law would impact them
personally. This is a significant decrease
from KHIP 2010 and 2011, when more
than 7 in 10 Kentucky adults (72 percent)
reported not having enough information.
Five in 10 (48 percent) reported unfavorable views of the ACA. Views on the ACA in
Kentucky were similar to national opinions
reported by Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. On
kynect, KHIP found that 7 in 10 uninsured
Kentucky adults (70 percent) had heard
something about the new marketplace. In
regards to the decision to expand Medicaid
in Kentucky, large majorities of all demo-
graphic groups tracked by KHIP, including
Democrats, Republicans and Independents,
favored Medicaid expansion.
Some additional highlights from KHIP
include:
• Sixty-five percent support for a statewide smoke-free law
• The number of adults who report that
friends or family members have had
problems as a result of abusing prescription pain relievers has dropped from
33 percent in 2012 to 27 percent in our
latest poll.
• Adults in northern Kentucky are three
times more likely than Kentuckians
s