• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy

   

  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Events
  • Job Opportunities
  • Donate

Research That Works for Kentucky

  • Topics
    • Budget & Tax
    • Criminal Justice
    • Economic Security
    • Education
    • Health Care
    • Jobs & The Economy
  • Types
    • News
    • Op-Ed
    • Research

   

  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Events
  • Job Opportunities
  • Donate

Copyright © 2021 KyPolicy Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Sitemap

Analysis

Supreme Court Ruling Allows Kentucky to Move Forward on Addressing Health Challenges

Jason Bailey | June 28, 2012

The Supreme Court’s decision today to uphold the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is good news for Kentucky, a state with tremendous health challenges and a growing number of families that struggle to afford health care coverage.

More than one in seven Kentuckians lack health insurance, but when the ACA is fully implemented in 2014 around half of the uninsured will obtain insurance through the expansion of Medicaid to the working poor. Many thousands more individuals and employees of small businesses will gain coverage through access to a health insurance exchange beginning that year, where they can buy coverage with the help of tax credits.

More On Economic Security: Ky. Still Can’t Waive Unemployment Overpayment Debt

Other aspects of the ACA are already making the health care system fairer and more inclusive. Many thousands of Kentuckians have benefitted or will benefit from measures that allow young people up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ health insurance; prevent insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions or charge women or sick people more for insurance; require preventative services like wellness visits be included in Medicare and private insurance without co-pays; help seniors afford prescription drugs; and expand community health centers.

As a state in which many struggle with poor health, including higher than average rates of diabetes, cancer, and obesity, improved coverage and higher quality care are essential to improving Kentuckians’ lives and strengthening our economy. The old, fragmented health care system is falling apart, with employer-based health care coverage falling from 70 percent of Kentucky workers in 1980 to only 56 percent today.

More can and should be done to extend health care to all Americans, improve health quality and control the growth of health care costs. But the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the ACA today will mean better health for Kentuckians, and a big step in the right direction. It is now incumbent upon Kentucky leaders to unite behind implementation of the bill.

For the full text of the Supreme Court’s ACA ruling, click here.

FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail

Primary Sidebar

Get KyPolicy news updates in your inbox

Sign Up

Sidebar

Perspectives

Kentucky Must Remove the Roadblocks to Unemployment Insurance — Our Most Important Economic Stabilizer

Many Kentuckians Face Hunger and Hardship This Thanksgiving. They Need Relief.

Kentucky Lives and Livelihoods Are on the Line with Supreme Court Challenge to ACA

Letter to Governor Beshear: Priorities for Use of Remaining Coronavirus Relief Fund Monies

Congress Can’t Go Home Without Passing a Strong Aid Package

Other Economic Security Items

stimulus

Analysis

$2,000 Checks Would Provide More of the Relief Kentuckians Need

Young woman working and worried

Analysis

New Federal Relief Package Is a Short-Term Lifeline, But More Aid Is Needed

Analysis

Tracking SNAP in Kentucky

Ky. Policy

Footer

Research that works for Kentucky

433 Chestnut Street, Berea, KY 40403

Phone: 859-756-4605

General information and inquiries: info@kypolicy.org

   

Help us make the facts free and accessible to everyone. That’s how Kentucky will thrive.

Donate

  • Topics
    • Budget & Tax
    • Criminal Justice
    • Economic Security
    • Education
    • Health Care
    • Jobs & The Economy
  • Work
    • News
    • Op-Ed
    • Research
  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Contact

Get KyPolicy news updates in your inbox

Sign Up

Copyright © 2021 KyPolicy Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Sitemap

made by P&P
Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you consent to the use of cookies.OkPrivacy policy