The numbers of children enrolled in Medicaid and the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program (KCHIP) are on the rise, we learned in yesterday’s post. This data helps us understand how many children live in families who do not earn enough income to afford health insurance. The Medicaid program and KCHIP provide health insurance and access to health care for children in low-income households, in order to strengthen their health and future. One thing those numbers [...]

Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) have been instrumental in reducing the number of uninsured children over the last decade, despite a decline in employer-sponsored insurance and two recessions. Statewide from 2000 to 2010, the average monthly number of children enrolled in Medicaid grew by 52 percent (over 136,000 children) and for the Kentucky CHIP (KCHIP) by 45 percent (over 20,000 children). During that same time period, 87.5 percent of Kentucky counties experienced [...]

New Study Shows Kentucky Schools and Community Agencies often Collaborate to Share Facilities Jeffersontown, KY – Schools across Kentucky have opened their facilities to their communities during non-school hours for many years, allowing people of all ages to use their gymnasiums, tracks, cafeterias, and athletic fields for recreation. This practice, known as “shared-use,” not only saves cost, it deepens school and community connections and expands opportunities for physical activity. According to a new study,  Sharing School [...]

For the past 30 years, Dr. Fred Howard of Harlan has been seating patients in his blue dental chair and telling them to open up. When they do, he’s seen all kinds of scenarios, from toddlers whose teeth are already rotten from sucking on bottle filled with soft drinks to 20-year-old adults with no teeth at all. On some occasions, children walk in with such a severe abscess in their mouth their eyes are swollen [...]