In 2004, Kentucky was awarded HRSA SPG funds. The grant is a collaborative effort between the Kentucky Office of Rural Health, the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Center, the University of Louisville, and the University of Kentucky. The grant team will:

• Conduct research (household and employer survey);
• Facilitate public forums on access to health insurance; and
• Convene a one-day collaborative conference with the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky called "Prescription for Change." This conference will engage stakeholders, policymakers, and the media, and will be televised on Kentucky Educational Television.

In 2006 the grant team plans to:

• Survey Kentuckians aged 65 and older about underinsurance and the Medicare part D implementation in response to learning that the insured in Kentucky are particularly concerned with out-of-pocket costs;
• Survey local governments, county and city, about recent cost increases for health insurance and the impact on employees and affordability;
• Conduct focus groups with providers of care for the uninsured; and
• Examine the costs to Kentucky’s health care and justice system resulting from inadequate health care coverage for mental health and substance abuse.
  

Learn more about the Kentucky state planning grant effort.

Application
Not available online

Report to the Secretary, September 2005
Not available online

Data Briefing 1: Uninsured Kentuckians Older, Poorer, and More Likely to Be Underemployed than the U.S. Average

Data Briefing 2: Cost a Major Barrier for Kentucky's Uninsured

Data Briefing 3: Substantial Portion of Uninsured, Working-Age Kentuckians Discouraged from Seeking Needed Health Care by Costs

The Kentucky Health Insurance Research Project

Forums Suggest Worsening Problems with Access to Care

Samuels, M.E. et al. "Prescription for Change: A Proflie of Kentucky's Uninsured," University of Kentucky Center for Excellence in Rural Health, November 2005.