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Beshear Hoping to Improve Health Outcomes in State Known for Sickness

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Gov. Steve Beshear has announced a new initiative aimed at improving Kentucky’s health outcomes over the next five years.

‘KyHealthNow’ (Kentucky Health Now) will seek to improve Kentuckians’ health in the areas of smoking, obesity, cancer, heart disease and more by 10 percent.

Beshear says the initiative will piggyback off of the success of the state’s implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act, which has enrolled over 240,000 people across the commonwealth.

“We want to reduce Kentucky’s rate of uninsured individuals to less than five percent," the Governor said Thursday. "The link between access to affordable health care and good health is clear, it’s direct, it’s indisputable.”

Beshear says  the initiative will  coordinate executive and legislative actions, as well as public private partnerships.

Kentucky ranks among the worst states for rates of smoking, cancer deaths and heart attacks.

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