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So far Katie Carter has created 65 blog entries.

Kentucky’s Health Benefit Exchange Website – Kynect – Launches

Governor Beshear recently announced the launch of Kentucky's Healthcare Connection - kynect. This is Kentucky’s Health Benefit Exchange created under the Affordable Care Act. Beginning October 1, kynect will allow individuals, families, and businesses to compare and select insurance plans and to find out if they qualify for programs like Medicaid or Kentucky’s Children Health Insurance Program (KCHIP). The website provides some basic, introductory information about kynect including a fact sheet for families. Help will [...]

By |2013-05-23T09:18:38-04:00May 23rd, 2013|Blog, Health|

Poverty Today is the Polio of the 1950s

  Clasp.org discusses the polio epidemic of the 1950s that crippled tens of thousands of people every year – and was eliminated by 1979 due to a massive public health effort. The post also highlights that the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) Task Force on Childhood Poverty recently declared that childhood poverty is on par with polio in the 1950s as the most important problem facing American children today. While the APA Task Force acknowledges that there is no [...]

By |2013-05-21T10:38:10-04:00May 21st, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health|

Payday Loans are “No Hassle” until You Try to Pay Them Back

You have probably seen those storefronts that promise “quick cash” or “instant loan approval.” In reality – these kinds of “payday loans” result in long term debt – not quick financial fixes. On average, Kentucky payday lenders keep borrowers indebted for 137 days a year – much longer than the advertised 2-week loan. Kentucky payday lenders charge an average of $15.00 per $100 borrowed, plus additional fees every two weeks. This means payday loans carry [...]

By |2013-05-14T09:00:46-04:00May 14th, 2013|Blog, Economic Security|

Thursday, May 9, is National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day

National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day is this Thursday, May 9. Organizations throughout the country are planning events to raise awareness about the importance of children's mental health and that positive mental health is essential to a child's healthy development from birth. Over 12 percent of children ages 2-17 in Kentucky are taking medication for ADHD, emotions, concentration or behavioral issues, compared to almost 8 percent of children ages 2-17 nationwide, according to parent responses [...]

By |2013-05-07T10:00:02-04:00May 7th, 2013|Blog, Health|

Children Need Love, Support, and Better Federal Policies

Seemingly every week or month, there is new research about how poorly children are faring in the United States. In a New York Times op-ed last week “The Kids Are (Not) All Right,” Charles Blow highlighted a report from Unicef – “Child Well-Being in Rich Countries.” The United States ranks the worst among wealthy nations for child well-being and ranks particularly poorly on child poverty, being overweight, and “life satisfaction.” Meanwhile, President Obama released his [...]

By |2013-04-24T15:17:44-04:00April 24th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health|

Remember the Benefits of the Earned Income Tax Credit on this Tax Day

For the last few months, I've been volunteering as a tax preparer with the Louisville Asset Building Coalition, helping individuals and families who earn less than $50,000 prepare their taxes.  I’ve seen young students filing and single, working moms who are simultaneously raising children and going to school file taxes. I’ve heard stories about individuals falling on hard times in the last few years, and met one person who was working his way out of homelessness. As families across the state and [...]

By |2013-04-15T13:09:25-04:00April 15th, 2013|Blog, Economic Security, Education, Health|

Unemployment Affects Children Too

A version of the following post first appeared in A Better Life, a blog for the Courier-Journal about the aftermath of the recession. Big news last month was that Kentucky’s unemployment rate was under 8 percent for the first time in four years. It is good news that the unemployment rate has been steadily declining in the last year. However, unemployment remains a problem, not only for parents, but for their children. When a parent loses [...]

By |2013-04-08T09:23:02-04:00April 8th, 2013|Blog, Economic Security, Education|

Cruel April Fool’s – Families Facing Cuts to Child Care Assistance and Kinship Care

Effective today, April 1, about 2,900 children and 1,600 families on average a month will not be able to access public financial assistance for child care. It seems a cruel joke that this is occurring on April Fool’s Day. Freezing applications for the child care assistance program will not allow any new families to receive assistance. This move, while expected to save the state some money, makes up 0.4 percent of the state budget. However, [...]

By |2013-04-01T13:17:40-04:00April 1st, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security|

We Can do Better When it Comes to Children’s Health in Kentucky

In the middle of the day Monday, I received an email from my husband. The subject line was “say waaa?” with a link to this story:  “Survey: Ky. kids healthier than US average.” First, it is sad that someone’s first reaction to hearing that Kentucky kids are healthier than the average American kid is disbelief. Certainly we can do better as a state to both improve children’s health and improve the perceptions of children’s health. [...]

By |2013-03-27T13:46:29-04:00March 27th, 2013|Blog, Health|

Annual Rankings Show Where Kentucky Counties do well and Opportunities for Improvement

Health does not exist in a vacuum. Health is impacted by more than having health insurance and going to the doctor. The County Health Rankings and Roadmaps project, a partnership between the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, understands this. They work to understand what’s making people sick or healthy and then figure out what communities can do to impact that. According to the newest annual rankings released today, Oldham County has [...]

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