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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Kentucky Rural Healthcare Reform Champions Bend Ears in D.C.

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Thursday, May 7, 2009   

Washington D.C. – He went to bend some ears and found big listeners. Jon Bailey, research director at the Center for Rural Affairs, recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to present the Center's latest research to White House officials and congressional leaders. It shows that rural Americans are often uninsured and underinsured, and rural areas like much of Kentucky also face special challenges when it comes to health-care reform.

His information was well-received, Bailey says.

"There's a real interest in the access of individuals and families to health care and health insurance, and also issues regarding the health care infrastructure."

The study shows rural Kentuckians are twice as likely as their urban counterparts to be uninsured or underinsured, and one-third of farmers and ranchers depend on private-market, individual policies that have reduced benefits and high deductibles. Bailey says those who cannot afford private insurance go without coverage, because no other product is available for them to purchase.

Bailey acknowledges there are big challenges in meeting the health care needs of rural areas, and he believes many in Washington realize that the employer-based system in place right now simply does not work for rural economies, which are supported by small businesses, self-employment and low-wage jobs.

"It's encouraging to know that there are people within Congress, within the White House, as well as people out in the country, who are all very interested in the rural issues and rural challenges."

The full report, "Causes and Consequences of the Rural Uninsured and Underinsured," is available at www.cfra.org.




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