Rural Health Care Access, News & Research

"Poverty is the single biggest reason Kentucky is one of America's sickest states. Not only is Kentucky one of the nation's poorest states, but it also is plagued by a type of poverty that makes things even worse — rural poverty that has eroded health for generations." Laura Ungar writes in The Courier-Journal's latest installment of the Louisville newspaper's series on Kentucky's health. The newspaper series incorporates case studies, video interviews with legislators, graphical statistics, and a health fair.

USA Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health recently released the results from a new comprehensive survey looking at how Americans are being affected by rising health care costs. The Health Care Costs Survey includes information on the problems Americans have paying for medical care and prescription drugs; the impact paying health care bills has on family budgets; the barriers health care costs pose to obtaining medical care; and the special burden of medical bills for people with chronic health conditions, moderate and lower incomes, and those without insurance. Full survey results and a link to USA Today articles is available online.

Mary Agnes Carey of Congressional Quarterly reports that House conservatives have introduced an array of spending cuts totally nearly $1 trillion to offset the cost of Hurricane Katrina. Audio report "Entitlement Cuts" is available on-line:

Misunderstandings between American doctors and foreign-born patients can cause a wide range of problems--misunderstandings, higher medical costs, and even death. Some hospitals have launched language programs to address the issue. Critics say interpreters should be used "whenever a clinician is not 100% fluent" because because small misinterpretations can lead to big differences. (Source: Boston Globe quoted on the Kaiser site)

Literacy, health-literacy and language are all issues that can be barriers to obtaining basic health information. Healthy Roads Media contains free audio, written and multimedia health education materials in a number of languages. Former Sound Partners WMPG's PSAs have an extended life through this project.

The California Healthcare Foundation has teamed up with the Center for Governmental Studies to offer an election resource providing analysis of California's three health-related ballot measures. HealthVote.org provides voters with facts and non-partisan analysis, as well as easy access to information on who supports and opposes the measures, who is paying for the campaigns, how much is being spent, results of statewide polls, and the latest news.

60% of companies offered health coverage to workers in 2005, down from 66% in 2003 and 69% in 2000. The decline can mostly be found in small businesses, with nearly 98% of firms with 200 or more employees offering coverage. “It is low-wage workers who are being hurt the most by the steady drip, drip, drip of coverage draining out of the employer based health insurance system,” Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew E. Altman, Ph.D., said. (Source: Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Education Trust)

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) introduced a bill last week that would repeal a law confining low-power FM (LPFM) stations to rural communities and allow communities nationwide to build the 100-w stations. The legislation, entitled Enhance and Protect Local Community Radio Act of 2005, would 1) "charge the FCC with using every means available to protect the 600 stations currently operating against encroachment by larger stations;" 2) require the FCC to schedule opportunities for the communities to apply for licenses and study how the transition from analog to digital radio will impact LPFM broadcasters, 3) require the Commission to prohibit companies from repeating signals more than 20 times through translators, to preserve most of the available frequencies for unique local broadcasts, 4) gives low power applicants planning to broadcast at least 8 hours a day of local programming primary status over unstaffed translators that are repeating a station from far away. The bill seeks a comprehensive analysis of radio services during the transition from analog to digital broadcasting. (SOURCE: Communications Daily. Not available on-line)

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) 2004 National Healthcare Quality Report is available online as a full report or in state-by-state "snapshots" that allow viewers to see how their states are doing in about 100 healthcare quality measures. This report, mandated by Congress and published annually by AHRQ, is based on a detailed analysis of measures designed to help track health care quality across the Nation. These statistics and data are not easy reading, but provide deep resources that can "aid community leaders in exploring the quality of healthcare....and working to improve it."

Americans rank health care (22%) behind only war and foreign policy issues (28%) and just ahead of the economy (20%) as the most important problem for the government to address according to the July/August Kaiser Health Poll Report tracking survey. Older people are more likely to say lowering the cost of prescription drugs is the most important issue for the President and Congress to address. Younger Americans are more likely to pick lowering the cost of health insurance as the most important health issue. The complete Kaiser Health Poll Report is available online.