Kentucky Advocacy Issues and Priorities
2009 State Advocacy Priorities:
I. ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN OF CHILDBEARING
AGE, INFANTS, AND CHILDREN
• State policies regarding health coverage including Medicaid, the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program (KCHIP), other publicly supported coverage, as well as private insurance to protect and improve access to and quality of health care.
• Standards of care for mothers and children enrolled in health plans.
• Initiatives to improve the health of preterm and low birthweight infants and children living with birth defects.
II. RESEARCH TO PREVENT PREMATURITY, BIRTH DEFECTS
AND INFANT MORTALITY
• Birth defects surveillance, research, prevention and treatment programs at the state level.
III. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE
MATERNAL, INFANT, AND CHILD HEALTH
• Smoking, alcohol and substance abuse prevention and cessation initiatives affecting women of childbearing age and children.
• Programs to improve prematurity risk detection and prevent preterm births.
• Programs to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care.
• Programs to collect data on and reduce exposure to environmental and reproductive hazards associated with birth defects.
IV. INSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS FOR TAX-EXEMPT
ORGANIZATIONS
• State laws and regulations related to tax-exempt organizations.
We applaud the Kentucky General Assembly for passing, and Governor Steve Beshear for signing into law, HB 144 which doubled the cigarette tax in the state. Raising the price of cigarettes will help pregnant women and women of childbearing age break their habit, giving them and their babies healthier lives! We also thank the local March of Dimes volunteers who took the time to contact their legislators and ask for a “yes” vote on this issue, declaring moms and babies a priority in the Commonwealth.
On Lobby Day, the March of Dimes met with members of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, asking them to vote SB 61, a measure that would require Medicaid funding for best-practice smoking cessation treatments for pregnant women. The Senate committee passed the bill, as did the House committee, but revisions were made in the full Senate eliminating the funding provision. We look forward to working on this issue again when the General Assembly reconvenes in 2010. The March of Dimes is committed to ensuring that all pregnant women get the help they need in order to bring healthy babies into the world.
