2025 Kentucky General Assembly

Healthy Kentucky Policy Priorities

Last updated on 1/3/25

Bills & Policies

We Support

This is not a comprehensive list.

Access to Health Care

  • To improve access to health care in Kentucky, we need comprehensive information about what care is being delivered and how it varies in cost for different Kentuckians. We hope Kentucky will establish an All-Payer Claims Database, which compiles de-identified insurance claims into one resource hub where they can be analyzed and compared.

At the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, we support policies that:

  • Improve Kentuckians’ access to comprehensive, high-quality and affordable health care.

  • Allow all children and youth in Kentucky to be healthy, safe and engaged, with opportunities to develop to their full potential.

  • Remove obstacles to health, such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness, injustice, and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care.

Children’s Health

  • We support policies that improve access to healthy foods for kids. We hope to see our state establish a “Kentucky Healthy Farm and Food Innovation Fund and Board.” This would create opportunities to start new efforts and to expand current food access programs like Farm to School and Fresh RX for MOMs.

  • Because kids spend so much of their time in school, it is an ideal setting for delivering health services. We support policies that guarantee more schools are able to provide physical and mental health services and guarantee that schools receive the necessary training and infrastructure development to bill Medicaid for payment for those services.

  • We support protecting coverage for both physical and mental health services for children, in particular through Continuous Eligibility for children 0-6. This would ensure that those kids maintain health insurance, regardless of changes in family circumstances that would make someone ineligible.

  • Too many middle and high schoolers are able to access e-cigarettes and other nicotine products. Youth vaping can lead to addiction and long-term harm to brain development and respiratory health. We advocate for policies that strengthen the enforcement of Kentucky’s legal age to purchase tobacco products, which is 21-years-old. Retailers need to be held accountable for who they are selling to. The policies should not include measures that punish kids who are caught using nicotine products.

  • Kentucky is receiving millions of dollars from the settlement between e-cigarette maker JUUL and 34 attorneys general for the role the company played in the surge of youth vaping. We support policies that ensure that these funds will be used to help people quit using nicotine and prevent young people from ever starting in the first place.

Social Determinants of Health

  • Research shows that a person's income level has a substantial impact on their health, with lower income generally associated with poorer health outcomes, including higher rates of chronic diseases, shorter life expectancy, and increased risk of mental health issues. We advocate for policies that guarantee fair wages for all Kentucky workers.

  • Institutional and individual discrimination can have serious negative impacts on physical and mental health. Along with being a barrier to resources, discrimination can be a major stressor in a person’s life. That stress can make you more at risk for poor physical and mental health outcomes. We advocate for policies that protect Kentuckians from discrimination.

  • Gun violence is a public health epidemic that affects the well-being and public safety of all Kentuckians. Gun-related injuries and deaths not only cause immediate physical harm but also place a significant strain on healthcare systems and community resources. The trauma and fear associated with gun violence can lead to widespread mental health challenges, such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD, particularly in communities that experience it repeatedly. We support sensible control measures, such as the Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention (CARR) Act which we endorsed in 2024 but it was not passed by the State Legislature. It would allow for the temporary transfer of firearms away from people on the brink of crisis.

Bills & Policies We Oppose

This is not a comprehensive list.

At the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, we oppose policies that make it more difficult for people to have a healthy life. This includes policies that allow for discriminatory practices, that weaken our social safety net, and that undermine public health protections and best practices.

Access to Health Care

  • Vaccination is one of the most convenient and safest preventive care measures available. By getting vaccinated, people can protect themselves and also avoid spreading dangerous diseases to other people in their community. Unfortunately, bills have been filed in the past that foster mistrust in immunizations, even ones that have been around and successfully used for decades. We should be trying to improve access and confidence in vaccines instead of undermining them.

Children’s Health

  • Schools and teachers play an important role in the health of kids and teens. From supporting healthy eating habits to being a trusted adult in their lives... the impact of the education setting is far reaching. Rather than focusing on policies that hinder creativity, growth, and equitable opportunities, lawmakers should instead focus on measures that will ensure a safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environment for all Kentucky students.

Social Determinants of Health

  • Adding fluoride to community water supplies has significantly reduced the incidence of cavities, particularly among children and vulnerable populations who lack access to regular dental care. The pain from untreated cavities can cause people to lose sleep, have trouble eating, speaking and paying attention at school or work. We oppose efforts to end the state’s fluoridation programs because this will lead to increased health care costs and disparities in oral health outcomes.

  • Food insecurity is correlated with increased prevalence of chronic health conditions and there are already too many Kentuckians who struggle with access to nutrition. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps low-income families put food on the table, while also boosting local economies with federal dollars. Efforts that would make it harder for Kentuckians to get – and keep – food assistance programs like SNAP would be a huge setback in improving the health of Kentuckians.