Polls be damned: a million Kentuckians desperately need the Public Option

It's not speculation any more. It's a fact - backed by scientific research - that nearly one-fourth of Kentuckians need health care reform with a strong public option.

A third of adult Kentuckians below Medicare age — nearly 900,000 people — don't have health insurance, a poll has found. And researchers say the recession and the resulting rise in unemployment are to blame.

The survey, which the University of Cincinnati conducted in October and November for the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and a similar Cincinnati group, found a sharp increase in uninsured adults since a similar poll last year: 33 percent of Kentuckians ages 18 to 64 lacked insurance, compared with 23 percent in early 2008.

During the same period, Kentucky's jobless rate rose from just shy of 6 percent to about 11 percent.

SNIP

Susan Zepeda, executive director of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, said the results underscore that reform efforts must consider the unemployed and those who can't buy insurance through their jobs.

In other words, public option, motherfuckers.

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