Kentucky Health Insurance

How Healthy is your State?

Kentucky is 41st this year; it was 39th in 2008, according to United Health Foundation's 2009 Study.

Strengths include a low prevalence of binge drinking at 10.1 percent of the population
A low incidence of infectious disease at 10.1 cases per 100,000 population
A low violent crime rate at 296 offenses per 100,000 population.
Kentucky ranks higher for determinants than for health outcomes, indicating that overall healthiness may improve over time.

Challenges include a high prevalence of smoking at 25.2 percent of the population
A high prevalence of obesity at 30.2 percent of the population
A high percentage of children in poverty at 24.4 percent of persons under age 18
A high rate of preventable hospitalizations with 106.9 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees
High levels of air pollution at 13.1 micrograms of fine particulate per cubic meter.

In the past year, the number of poor mental health days per month increased from 3.7 to 4.6 days in the previous 30 days.
In the past five years, the prevalence of smoking decreased from 30.8 percent to 25.2 percent of the population
In the past ten years, immunization coverage increased from 59.6 percent to 76.8 percent of children ages 19 to 35 months receiving complete immunizations.
Since 1990, the prevalence of obesity increased from 12.2 percent to 30.2 percent of the population.