The Dept of Health and Human Services is linking the administration’s call for healthcare reform to a new study profiling the status of healthcare in the states.
Here’s the link for a look at all 50 states http://www.healthreform.gov/healthcarestatus.htm:
Here’s the summaries for Kansas and Missouri: (Note; Subtitles have been removed by me. They were pretty biased. Most everyone agrees there’s a problem with healthcare.)
MISSOURI
1.Roughly 3.5 million people in Missouri get health insurance on the job
where family premiums average $12,925, about the annual earning of a full-time minimum wage job.
2.Since 2000 alone, average family premiums have increased by 92 percent in Missouri.
3.Household budgets are strained by high costs: 20 percent of middle-income Missouri families spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care.
4.High costs block access to care: 15 percent of people in Missouri report not visiting a doctor due to high costs.
5.Missouri businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $400 per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the uninsured.
6.13 percent of people in Missouri are uninsured, and 72 percent of them are in families with at least one full-time worker.
7.The percent of Missourians with employer coverage is declining: from 69 to 61 percent between 2000 and 2007.
8.Much of the decline is among workers in small businesses. While small businesses make up 76 percent of Missouri businesses,9 only 42 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2006 — down 4 percent since 2000.
10.Choice of health insurance is limited in Missouri. WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) alone constitutes 68 percent of the health insurance market share in Missouri, with the top two insurance providers accounting for 79 percent.
11.Choice is even more limited for people with pre-existing conditions. In Missouri, premiums can vary based on demographic factors and health status, and coverage can exclude pre-existing conditions or even be denied completely.
The overall quality of care in Missouri is rated as “Average.”12
Preventative measures that could keep Missourians healthier and out of the hospital are deficient, leading to problems across the age spectrum:
14 percent of children in Missouri are obese.13
23 percent of women over the age of 50 in Missouri have not received a mammogram in the past two years.
39 percent of men over the age of 50 in Missouri have never had a colorectal cancer screening.
69 percent of adults over the age of 65 in Missouri have received a flu vaccine in the past year.14
KANSAS:
Roughly 1.6 million people in Kansas get health insurance on the job1, where family premiums average $12,783, about the annual earning of a full-time minimum wage job.
2.Since 2000 alone, average family premiums have increased by 105 percent in Kansas.
3.Household budgets are strained by high costs: 20 percent of middle-income Kansas families spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care.
4.High costs block access to care: 11 percent of people in Kansas report not visiting a doctor due to high costs.
5.Kansas businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $900 per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the uninsured.
6.13 percent of people in Kansas are uninsured, and 71 percent of them are in families with at least one full-time worker.
7.The percent of Kansans with employer coverage is declining: from 65 to 59 percent between 2000 and 2007.
8.Much of the decline is among workers in small businesses. While small businesses make up 76 percent of Kansas businesses,9 only 40 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2006 — down 8 percent since 2000.
10.Choice of health insurance is limited in Kansas. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas alone constitutes a dominant health insurance market share in Kansas.
Choice is even more limited for people with pre-existing conditions. In Kansas, premiums can vary based on demographic factors and health status, and coverage can exclude pre-existing conditions or even be denied completely.
The overall quality of care in Kansas is rated as “Average.”11
Preventative measures that could keep Kansans healthier and out of the hospital are deficient, leading to problems across the age spectrum:
16 percent of children in Kansas are obese.12
22 percent of women over the age of 50 in Kansas have not received a mammogram in the past two years.
38 percent of men over the age of 50 in Kansas have never had a colorectal cancer screening.
73 percent of adults over the age of 65 in Kansas have received a flu vaccine in the past year.13
