missouri news

Columbia Missourian: Physicians in short supply in rural Missouri areas, 1/5/10
Eighty percent of Missouri's counties don't have enough physicians. Many of those counties are rural, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Springfield News-Leader: Missouri senators split on bill, 12/25/09
Missouri's senators split over legislation overhauling the nation's health insurance system — as have the state's two leading Senate candidates.

Columbia Missourian: State health insurance pool premiums too high for neediest uninsured, 12/16/09
More than 16,000 of the sickest and most uninsurable Missourians could be covered under the state health care pool if it weren't for high insurance premiums, according to the pool's director.

national news

USA Today: Another COBRA extension helps with health insurance, 1/4/10
Thanks to some last-minute maneuvering by Congress, thousands of jobless workers will continue to receive affordable health insurance in 2010.

Washington Post: Senate passes health care bill, now must reconcile it with House, 12/25/09
Senate Democrats approved landmark legislation just after sunrise Christmas Eve that would transform the nation's health care system by requiring people without insurance to obtain coverage and protecting those who have it from the most unpopular private insurance practices.

NPR: A consumer's guide to health reform, 12/24/09
Now that the Senate has passed a hotly debated health care bill, Congress is headed to the next step: House of Representatives-Senate negotiations in January to hammer out a final version.

The latest news is available at
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cover missouri feature

UPDATED: State of Missouri's Health
A look at health outcomes in MO

Cover Missouri has updated State of Missouri's Health. This fact sheet provides an overview of Missouri demographics and highlights findings from two scorecards comparing all fifty states on a variety of health measures.

The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation which supports research on health care issues. They publish a state scorecard on health care system performance. Missouri was ranked 36th overall in 2009 compared to 31st in 2007. This suggests that Missourians have poorer access to care and live less healthy lives than they did two years ago.

For the past twenty years the United Health Foundation has released health rankings using state-specific data. In this ranking, Missouri scored 38th overall in 2009 compared to 35th in 2007. The United Health Foundation examined specific health determinants (i.e., factors that impact an individual's likelihood of being healthy) and health outcomes (i.e., quality-of-life). Some of Missouri's rankings include:

  • 39th for percent of population that is obese (29%),
  • 47th for percent of population that smokes (24.9%),
  • 42nd for rate of cardiovascular deaths (318.3 deaths per 100,000 population), and
  • 42nd for the number of poor physical health days (3.8 days in previous 30 days).

These rankings suggest that Missouri needs to address weaknesses in the health system.

Read State of Missouri's Health
Cover Missouri is a project of the Missouri Foundation for Health. Learn more here.