Kentucky families and businesses are struggling to keep up with health care costs that just keep rising. It has become increasingly clear that health care, like education, has become not just a core value in our society but also an essential component of economic competitiveness: Businesses cannot compete when the costs of health care are excessive – or when the workforce is not as healthy and productive as possible. Very simply, we need health care coverage for those Kentuckians who lack it – and we need lower health care costs for all Kentuckians – in order to move our state and its economy forward.

Kentuckians are now paying 84 percent more for health insurance premiums than they were in 2000, while wages have risen by only 20 percent. In Ernie Fletcher’s first full year in office, in 2004, the average health insurance premium paid by a Kentucky family was $7,767; last year, it was $9,528, an increase of $1,761 – or 23 percent – in just two years. If things keep up at that rate, a second term for Ernie Fletcher would mean health insurance premiums doubling during his tenure. That’s a proposition that neither Kentucky families nor Kentucky’s economy can afford.

And while families and businesses are paying more and more for their health coverage, all too often, they are getting less and less. Kentucky ranks 39th of all states in health status, according to the United Health Foundation, and ranks in the bottom 5 states for rates of smoking, obesity and deaths from heart disease and cancer. Health care costs are rising in part precisely because of these high rates of chronic diseases – much of which could be prevented or alleviated by healthier lifestyles and better access to preventive care.

But according to the latest Census data, over 550,000 Kentuckians have no health coverage at all – including more than 81,000 children. Almost 90 percent of individuals who try to obtain coverage through the individual market never buy a plan because either they can’t afford coverage or are refused due to a past illness. When Kentuckians can’t afford health insurance, they try to do without health care. A full 70 percent of uninsured Kentuckians report that cost is the primary reason they did not visit a clinic or see a doctor, compared to 22 percent of those with coverage. However, sometimes an illness or injury becomes unbearable or turns into an emergency situation. By then it can be too late: thousands of Americans each year die because they lack health coverage. When care is provided in the emergency room, it is much more expensive.

These costs of some Kentuckians going without insurance are passed along to all Kentuckians, whether they realize it or not. In fact, Kentucky families with insurance pay an extra $1,086 per year (about 10 percent of the average annual premium) to cover the cost of care for those without health insurance. In total, over $679 million is spent in Kentucky on uncompensated care for the uninsured – by 2010, that figure will reach $951 million. In short, lack of access to insurance is part of the larger problem of rising health care costs – and it’s costing every Kentucky family and every Kentucky business.

That’s why my Patients First plan, released last spring (available at: www.SteveBeshear.com), proposed ways to expand health care coverage and to address rising health care costs. We’re not going to be able to do one successfully without the other.

Here, in my Keeping Kentuckians Healthy plan, I address in even more detail how we are going to work toward the goal of health insurance coverage for all Kentuckians – starting with our children. This means:

• Covering All Kids.
• Allowing Young Adults to Keep Family Coverage Up to Age 25.
• Helping Small Businesses to Cover Employees.
• Maintaining and Strengthening the Health Care Safety Net for Those Who Can’t Afford or Don’t Receive Employer-Provided Coverage.

Then we must control runaway health care costs for the rest of us, in order to create high-quality, affordable health coverage for all. This will benefit every Kentucky family and every Kentucky business – and will allow us to achieve universal health care coverage over time.

We will launch an aggressive cost-containment effort, through a broad partnership of businesses, health care providers, government and individual Kentuckians. Billions of dollars are spent in our state on wasteful and inefficient administration, fraud and preventable complications of illness. We need to identify opportunities to control costs to make affordable, quality health care a reality for every man, woman and child in Kentucky. This means:

• Speeding Kentucky’s Progress Toward 21st Century e-Health.
• Improving Patient Safety and Quality.
• Investing in Preventive Care.
• Cracking Down on Medicaid Fraud and Abuse.

In particular, and in addition to these rising costs of health care coverage, many older Kentuckians struggle to pay for prescription drugs they need. Over 500,000 adults aged 65 and older live in Kentucky today and the number is anticipated to increase as the Baby Boom Generation reaches retirement age. Keeping Kentuckians Healthy makes sure our Administration will focus on the challenges our senior citizens face today so the problems do not become bigger as the population grows. This means:

• Funding the Kentucky Pharmaceutical Assistance Program.
• Developing a Prescription Drug Pricing Website.
• Reducing Overall Drug Prices and Ensuring Patient Safety.

In this way, we will eventually be able to ensure that every Kentuckian receives the health care he or she needs and deserves – starting with our children, and eventually covering young adults, working Kentuckians unable to obtain coverage through their employer, the vast bulk of Kentucky families who have coverage but at too steep a price, and our elderly who currently pay too much both for their care and for their medications.

Providing high-quality, affordable health care has long been a priority of mine and of my running mate, Dr. Daniel Mongiardo: As a state legislator, I fought to fund a neonatal intensive care unit at UK so poor families could receive treatment for seriously ill newborns. As Attorney General, I set up the state's first Medicaid fraud division. And my running, Dr. Mongiardo, helped found the Rotary Free Clinic, offering free health care to the working poor. He continues to serve patients at the Appalachian Regional Medical Center. By adopting these policies, our Administration will continue Keeping Kentuckians Healthy – and build a healthier state.

I. Promoting High-Quality, Affordable Health Coverage for Every Kentuckian

Our goal will be to ensure quality, affordable health coverage for every Kentuckian. Kentuckians demand, and deserve, no less. Therefore, while we are working to put the brakes on runaway health care costs, we will also implement the following steps to promote quality, affordable health coverage for every Kentuckian.

A. Cover All Kids

As a first step toward covering every Kentuckian, we must start by providing affordable, meaningful health coverage to every child in our state. It is a simple fact that children need regular check-ups to stay healthy and develop to their fullest potential, and it is simply unacceptable to deny health care to children because of their parents’ inability to pay for it – yet there are over 81,000 children in Kentucky without any health coverage. As Governor, I will immediately work to secure coverage for every Kentucky child.

To cover all kids in Kentucky, I will build on our state’s Medicaid and Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance (KCHIP) programs. Specifically, I will:

• Increase outreach efforts for children eligible for Medicaid or KCHIP but not enrolled: Many of the uninsured children in Kentucky – an estimated 67,500 – are already eligible for Medicaid or KCHIP but are not enrolled, often because their parents are not aware they qualify or the application process is too complicated. I will boost our outreach efforts to these children, cut red tape and make sure we have the funding to cover the additional children. For example, I will simplify the application process – eliminating Kentucky’s outdated application process and the requirement of a face-to-face interview, and encouraging all schools to provide information about Medicaid and KCHIP to families as well as permit hospitals to enroll uninsured families who qualify for these programs but are not enrolled.

• Allow families with incomes between 200 and 300 percent of federal poverty level (about $40,000 to $60,000 for a family of four) to buy into KCHIP with sliding scale premiums based on income: Currently, Kentucky’s KCHIP program extends to families up to 200 percent of federal poverty level. However, many moderate-income families are also having trouble finding affordable coverage for their children. We will allow moderate-income families to buy KCHIP coverage for their children on a sliding payment scale.

• Permit families with incomes above the 300 percent of federal poverty level (about $60,000 for a family of four) to buy KCHIP coverage at full price (equivalent to the rate paid by the state). Implementing such a provision will help families who have not been offered coverage for their children through employers, or who are having difficulty finding coverage on the individual market, purchase health coverage.

Expanding coverage to all Kentucky children will cost an estimated $28 million to $57 million per year, depending on enrollment, in addition to the cost of increasing outreach efforts of about $15 million.

B. Allow Young Adults to Keep Family Coverage up to Age 25

Young people, even if they are working full time, are unlikely to be offered insurance coverage through their jobs, or are unable to afford coverage on the individual market. That leads to young adults being significantly more likely to be uninsured than other age groups. In Kentucky, young adults aged 19-34 comprise 37 percent of the uninsured. It’s important for young adults to be insured because a significant illness or injury can be financially devastating even with health insurance, much less without. To provide a common-sense solution for young adults, we will allow all dependents up to age 25 to keep coverage under their parents’ plans. Kentucky currently requires only full-time students up to 25 to be eligible under their parents’ coverage. Insurers will be allowed to charge a reasonable extra premium to young adults keeping coverage under their parents’ plans.

C. Help Small Businesses to Cover Employees

As health care costs continue to rise, small businesses are finding it more and more difficult to cover their employees. To provide relief to small businesses, Kentucky’s Insurance Coverage Affordability and Relief (ICARE) plan, created in 2006, subsidizes part of the employer share of private premiums for small businesses with low-income employees. As of December 2006, 81 Kentucky businesses representing 696 employees have applied.

As Governor, I will continue to provide relief for small businesses through ICARE, and I will go even farther. It does not make sense to subsidize premiums that just keep rising without stemming rising costs. We must ensure that small businesses are getting the best possible value for their health care dollar. Therefore, as I have described, I would seek to aggressively control the overall health care costs that cause premiums to rise year after year.

To further help small businesses find affordable coverage, as Governor, I will also work with Kentucky businesses and health care providers to determine whether promising mechanisms from other states can successfully expand access in Kentucky, allowing us to design a model for expanding health coverage of our own. For example, we will consider:

• A Kentucky Health Care Connector to serve as a one-stop shop for health coverage, greatly simplifying the process of purchasing insurance for small businesses and individuals. Under this process, individuals, families and small businesses could choose from a range of plans offered through the Connector. These plans would be kept affordable by using the combined purchasing power of the state, businesses and individuals purchasing coverage. All plans would be required to cover proven prevention and chronic disease management services. The state could offer a sliding scale premium subsidy to lower-income families and small businesses buying coverage through the Connector, and workers would be allowed to combine premium contributions from two employers, thereby helping workers with multiple part-time jobs.

• Healthy Kentucky, a comprehensive health plan emphasizing prevention and chronic disease management that would be available to small businesses wishing to offer affordable coverage to their employees, or to uninsured individuals. This health plan could be offered through private insurance companies. The state would offer a sliding scale premium subsidy to lower-income families and small businesses purchasing Healthy Kentucky. As with the Connector option, this plan would be kept affordable by combining the purchasing power of the state, businesses and individuals, and workers would be able to combine contributions from multiple employers.

These are just two examples of programs we would consider to expand coverage in Kentucky.

D. Maintain and Strengthen the Health Care Safety Net for Those Who Can’t Afford or Don’t Receive Employer-Provided Coverage

Even with the above reforms, it still will be necessary to maintain and strengthen a health care safety net for the most vulnerable citizens. As Governor, I will seek to cover more of our lowest-income Kentuckians by:

• Strengthening the Medicaid safety net. Medicaid is one of the most effective uses of public dollars when it comes to covering the lowest-income people, since they are among the least likely to be offered affordable job-based coverage, and it allows states to obtain federal matching funds. I will increase outreach to those who are eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid; expanding Medicaid to uninsured, low-income working adults; and increasing provider reimbursement rates, so that more providers will accept Medicaid patients and enable more people to access care.

• Assessing the need for a loan forgiveness program for medical providers in specialty areas. Similar to a loan forgiveness program for registered nurses working full-time in Kentucky that was developed by the Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation (The Student Loan People) to increase the supply of nurses, we will consider establishing a loan forgiveness program for medical providers who agree to work in a specialty or geographic area where Kentucky has shortage of providers for a defined number of years in exchange for having a portion of their school loans forgiven.

II. Controlling Runaway Health Care Costs

Dr. Mongiardo and I believe we must implement aggressive cost containment strategies to provide Kentuckians relief from rising costs, in order to make health coverage expansions sustainable over time.

Here are some of the cost control measures we will seek to implement during our first 100 days in office:

A. Speed Kentucky’s Progress Towards 21st Century e-Health

The single most important strategy for making health care more affordable is to implement 21st Century electronic health (e-Health) technology making health care more efficient, improving quality and reducing costs. Thanks to the leadership of Dr. Mongiardo, our state has formed the Kentucky e-Health Network, which has an active board of providers, technology experts and others working to achieve a secure, electronic network for sharing health information. As Governor, I will provide the leadership needed to continue the progress toward achieving a 21st Century e-Health system used by every health care provider in Kentucky to reduce waste and inefficiency in our health care system, and make care more affordable for Kentuckians. As a first step, we will use the purchasing power of the state to encourage all providers who do business with any of our state-funded health plans, to implement e-Health technologies like electronic medical records within their own practices. To help raise the start-up funds for this initiative, we will form a public-private non-profit fund that businesses and unions could invest in to fund e-health measures statewide to reduce costs.

B. Improve Patient Safety and Quality

As Governor, I will:

• Form an Academy for Health Care Improvement and Cost Reduction: Dr. Mongiardo and I will create an Academy for Health Care Improvement and Cost Reduction to reduce medical errors, improve patient care and reduce health care costs. A similar effort in Pennsylvania is already proving to be a critical tool in efforts to make health care more affordable, provide consistent, transparent reporting of quality and price information, and help consumers make better choices when it comes to the value of the health care they are getting. Under a Beshear/Mongiardo Administration, Kentucky health care providers and businesses will have access to the same type of groundbreaking information as those in Pennsylvania do, and we will set the stage for more affordable, higher-quality health care for years to come.

• Prevent unnecessary hospitalizations: Chronic diseases account for an estimated 75 percent of medical spending, part of which is the result of unnecessary hospital admissions due to chronic diseases that were improperly managed (for example, uncontrolled asthma or diabetes, or failure to prescribe appropriate drugs after a heart attack). These preventable hospitalizations could be costing the state up to $563 million per year. As Governor, I will work in partnership with hospitals and health care providers using tools like e-Health technologies to ensure the right care in the right place at the right time, thus preventing unnecessary complications.

• Reduce preventable medical errors: Two of the top causes of preventable medical errors are hospital infections and medication errors. For example, hospitalized patients sometimes acquire life-threatening infections that could have been prevented through simple quality and safety protocols. In addition to costing the lives of potentially hundreds of Kentuckians every year, these infections could be costing Kentucky up to $960 million per year in preventable health care expenses. And harmful medication errors can occur if the wrong drug or dose is prescribed. Fortunately, states and hospitals across the country are beginning to take action to prevent these errors, and they are proving that some can be virtually eliminated. As Governor, I will encourage health care providers to report all errors to the Academy for Health Care Improvement and Cost Reduction and take proven steps to prevent these errors, thus reducing cost and improving quality of care.

• Introduce a Medical Error Disclosure Act: Dr. Mongiardo and I understand the tremendous strain rising malpractice insurance places on doctors and the communities they serve, and we are committed to finding solutions like this to address this issue. Right here in Kentucky, the Lexington VA hospital pioneered a simple, common-sense approach to improving patient care, restoring the trust between patients and doctors, and reducing malpractice lawsuits. This approach resulted in only three medical malpractice cases going to trial in 13 years, and an average settlement about one-third of the national average. A similar approach adopted at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis resulted in 50 percent fewer malpractice lawsuits since the program started several years ago. As Governor, I will consider the statewide introduction of a Medical Error Disclosure Act to help all Kentucky health providers and facilities implement a similar program.

• Promote evidence-based treatments: Expensive new treatments are one of the major reasons for spiraling health care costs, but they do not always achieve the best patient outcomes compared to already-existing ones. We need to make sure that the most cost-effective, high-value treatments are being put to use in Kentucky, and we are not paying top dollar for new treatments that don’t necessarily deliver on their promises. To do this, we will make full use of available resources such as the Medicaid Evidence-Based Decisions Project (MED), a national project that helps states conduct assessments of existing and emerging health treatments. As Governor, I am committed to ensuring the best care for patients based on the best evidence available.

C. Invest in Preventive Care

Kentucky has some of the worst rates of obesity and smoking in the country. These behaviors are the leading causes of chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes – which are common in Kentucky. It is therefore no surprise that we rank in the bottom five states in deaths from heart disease and cancer. We must address these issues if we are to have any hope of containing health care costs in the long term. As Governor, I will:

• Start in schools making sure all students get levels of physical activity recommended by national health experts like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by keeping junk food out of schools.

• Establish a Business Roundtable for Prevention in partnership with business leaders across the state, where businesses can learn about and share best practices for worksite wellness from other businesses that are committed to promoting healthy lifestyles.

• Support healthier communities by promoting walking paths, healthier community design and tobacco prevention measures.

• Create Innovative Preventive Care Centers that provide integrated care for prevention and chronic disease management; the use of innovative disease management techniques in state-funded health plans; and Patient Navigator Programs to link patients with counselors who can help them make the best medical decisions for them and connect with the resources they need to manage diseases like diabetes and cancer.

In addition to an emphasis on preventive care, healthier communities and personal responsibility for prevention, education will continue to be a key component of improving Kentucky’s health status. This is especially important for young, expectant mothers.

Kentucky has a higher rate of premature births and low birth weight babies than the national average. At least 4,000 infants in Kentucky are born premature or at low birth weight each year; their care costs on average $30,000 more than if they had been born full term at normal weight. Medical conditions associated with low birth weight babies are not only expensive, but they also can cause tragic loss of life just as it is beginning. Kentucky’s infant mortality rate – also slightly higher than the national average – is a direct reflection of this loss. Kentucky must do a better job preventing these tragedies. That’s why as Governor I will:

• Improve care for high-risk pregnancies: To reduce premature births and infant mortality in Kentucky, we will first focus on the highest-risk cases. Low birth weight babies commonly are associated with multiple births. For single births, however, the primary cause of low birth weight babies is insufficient material weight gain, smoking and premature labor. We will improve prevention programs for high-risk pregnant women including risk assessments, smoking cessation programs and preventive dental care – since gum disease can make women much more likely to have a baby born too early or too small. We will also expand outreach efforts to pregnant women eligible for prenatal care services under the Medicaid program.

• Expand the HANDS Now program: To increase support for new mothers and their children, we will also expand the HANDS Now program. The HANDS Now program is a voluntary home visiting program for at-risk first-time Kentucky parents to promote healthy growth and development of children beginning with the pregnancy of the mother. The program is administered by the Department of Public Health and operates in all 120 counties. Since 2001, the program has provided services to as many as 49,000 families and children up to age 2. The program has increased the number of full-term babies being born and reduced the number of low birth weight babies, thus resulting in healthier children. It is estimated that the state saves $4.7 million per year in delivery costs because of this program. I will seek to double total funding for this program from $20 million to $40 million; this will only require a $7.5 million investment by the state, and the rest an additional $12.5 million will be matched by the federal government. Expanding HANDS Now will allow Kentucky to reach more families and provide critical preventive services to children up to age three.

D. Crack Down on Medicaid Fraud and Abuse
In 2004, Kentucky recovered $17.3 million in Medicaid funds. Even though $17.3 million is a lot of money, we can do better. Studies indicate that state Medicaid programs lose up to 10 percent of their budgets to fraud, waste and abuse. In 2005, that meant a loss of up to $146 million in Kentucky. As Governor, I will pursue investigations of Medicaid fraud and abuse aggressively.

III. Providing Senior Citizens Affordable Prescription Drugs and Promoting Drug Safety

Prescription drugs are one of the biggest contributors to the growth in health care costs nationwide. Between 2000 and 2005, prescription drug spending grew faster than spending on hospital care, physician services and home health care. In 2004, Kentuckians spent $3.5 billion on pharmaceuticals. Kentucky could save millions of dollars each year by slowing the growth of prescription drug spending.

In 2005, the average Kentucky senior citizen filled over 35 prescriptions – higher than the national average of 27 prescriptions per senior citizen. Even with the new Medicare Part D benefit – a federal program to subsidize the costs of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries who enroll in the plan – prescription drugs remain out of reach for thousands of Kentucky senior citizens. And there is no sign that prescription drug prices will drop any time soon. In fact, just last year, brand name prescription drug prices increased at about twice the rate of inflation. As Governor, I will provide prescription drug relief for Kentucky’s seniors and other citizens by:

A. Funding the Kentucky Pharmaceutical Assistance Program

The voluntary Medicare Part D benefit has helped over 38 million senior citizens receive prescription drug coverage, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Yet for some senior citizens who are enrolled, the plan does not provide them with enough coverage and forces them to pay hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs, in addition to the plan’s monthly premiums. These senior citizens fall into what is known as the “donut hole” – a coverage gap.

This is how the coverage gap works: senior citizens covered by Medicare Part D pay their yearly deductible and co-payments for each drug they purchase until their total drug costs reach $2,400. At that point they are required to pay the full cost of their prescription drugs until they have spent $3,850. Once they reach $3,850 in out-of-pocket costs for the year, the coverage picks up again and they are only required to pay their co-payment on each drug for the remainder of the year. Since there are different plans offered under Medicare Part D, deductibles and co-payments may vary from plan to plan.

In 2005 the Kentucky General Assembly passed and the Governor signed a law creating a Kentucky Pharmaceutical Assistance Program. The program specifically was designed to provide income eligible senior citizens in this coverage gap with financial assistance to reduce out-of-pocket costs. It was a bill Dr. Mongiardo co-sponsored. Despite the passage of the bill, funding was never allocated for this program and as a result it was not started. And thousands of older Kentuckians have been forced to pay the price in higher cost prescription drugs.

As Governor, I will provide the leadership needed to fully fund a Kentucky Pharmaceutical Assistance Program and extend the program so even more senior citizens can participate. For example, the original program set income eligibility at 150 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and I will raise it to 200 percent of the FPL. My plan therefore will allow individual senior citizens with incomes up to $20,000 (or couples with incomes up to $27,000) to qualify for financial assistance to pay for expenses not covered by Medicare Part D because of the coverage gap. And my plan will cover 75 percent of out-of-pocket costs incurred in the coverage gap.

Based on a similar pharmaceutical assistance program offered to Missouri senior citizens, I estimate my plan will cost $10 million in the first year and $15 million in subsequent years as more senior citizens learn of the benefits provided. In addition, I will also set aside $10 million for start-up costs associated with conducting a statewide outreach effort and to cover various administrative costs.

B. Developing a Prescription Drug Pricing Website

A 2005 report published by AARP called, Pharmacists’ Attitudes and Practices Regarding Generic Drugs, found that pharmacists and customers could benefit from having more information to compare costs of prescription drugs. For example, the study noted that the majority of pharmacists say that it is important to have access to data on drug pricing, benefits and formularies, especially for generic drugs so they can better inform customers. As Governor, I will develop a Prescription Drug Pricing website for consumers and pharmacists to compare commonly prescribed drugs at pharmacies in their cities or counties so Kentuckians can make more informed decisions about prescription drugs and ensure they have the ability to purchase their prescription drugs for the best possible price. A similar website is currently available to New Yorkers and has helped them save an average of $17 per prescription.

C. Reducing Overall Drug Prices and Ensuring Patient Safety

In addition to proposing programs and services to make prescription drugs more affordable for Kentucky senior citizens, as Governor, I also intend to institute policies to ensure prescription drug safety such as:

• Using technology to manage prescriptions: Several states are using technology to better manage the use of prescriptions in their Medicaid program, saving millions of dollars. For example, Florida equips “high-prescribing doctors” – the minority of doctors responsible for the majority of prescriptions – with handheld devices that provide them with the real-time medication history of their patients. Armed with this knowledge, physicians are able to make more informed prescribing decisions, resulting in fewer drug interactions, and fewer prescriptions written. In Florida, this program netted a two-year savings of $50 million.

• Pursuing evidence-based drug purchasing: With multiple drugs on the market today, it is sometimes difficult for patients to know which one provides the most health improvement for the lowest cost. And because the most expensive drug is not always the most effective, it is critical to provide better information to patients and doctors alike. The Drug Effectiveness Review Project run by the Oregon Health and Sciences University, which studies the cost-effectiveness of drugs, provides one way for Kentucky to obtain this valuable information and ensure that Kentuckians are aware of the quality and cost of different drugs. Fifteen other states, including Arkansas and North Carolina, are taking part in this project and Kentucky could too.

• Expanding access to 340B drugs: The federal 340B Drug Pricing Program provides access to reduced price prescription drugs, (18 percent below Canadian and 51 percent below U.S. retail prices) to certain health care facilities serving low-income people. As Governor, I will work to expand access to these affordable drugs for more Kentuckians.

• Launching a “Know Your Pills – Save Your Life” campaign: It is critical for senior citizens to know the medications they are taking and their recommended dosages so they can accurately relay the information to their health care providers, especially in an emergency. As Governor, I will launch a “Know Your Pills – Save Your Life” campaign to:

• Educate senior citizens on the importance of knowing their own medical history and medication information,

• Assist the medical community to fulfill their required role to document the medications taken by their patients to reduce medication errors, and

• Help emergency services personnel quickly seek the information they need about the medications a person is taking by knowing what kinds of questions to ask.

As Governor, I will partner with the medical community to design and distribute personal medication cards to every Kentucky senior citizen. I will request assistance from our senior citizens by asking them to fill out a medication card listing their medications and recommended dosages with their doctor’s and/or pharmacist’s assistance. The cards will be used to establish an accurate record of a patient’s medications that could be carried with them at all times and in case of an emergency.

• E-prescribing: Electronic prescribing (E-prescribing) has the promise to hold down drug costs by providing real-time information on the drugs a patient is taking, thereby reducing adverse drug interactions and helping prevent duplicate prescriptions. E-prescribing also can reduce medical errors, further reducing health care costs. West Virginia is working toward a goal of a statewide e-prescribing system and there is no reason Kentucky can’t too. I believe there is significant potential to reduce medical errors, especially among our senior citizen population who represent the largest group of prescription drug consumers.

CONCLUSION

Kentucky’s families and individuals deserve to wake up every day knowing they can afford quality health care coverage for themselves and their families. Kentucky’s businesses deserve the stability that comes with more predictable health care costs and affordable sources of coverage. And Kentucky’s children deserve access to quality preventive care and treatment when they are sick, to help them grow to their fullest potential. No senior citizen should be deprived access to prescription drugs they need because of cost. And no person should be denied access to the health care they need regardless of their age, gender or because they have a pre-existing condition. We will not delay in making sure this vision of the future becomes a reality for every Kentuckian.