A new report commissioned by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky reveals that one in five Kentucky adults delayed or went without medical care in 2016 due to cost.

The report also showed that more Kentuckians are still having trouble paying medical bills compared with surrounding states and the nation as a whole. The state has seen progress in lowering the number of residents having trouble with medical bills, but a significantly larger share of Kentucky’s population still struggled to pay for health care than did Americans overall in 2014, the report said.

President and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky Ben Chandler said Kentuckians tend to cut health care costs out of their budget hoping it won’t affect their overall health.

“We know that delaying or foregoing routine and preventive care doesn’t save money in the long run and it certainly doesn’t result in better health outcomes,” Chandler said in a news release. “Access to health care is critical to improving Kentucky’s health, and we simply have to do better.”

Barren River District Health Department health educator Joyce Adkins agrees that even though more people have health care than ever before, a lot of them are waiting until something is wrong to use it versus getting preventative care. She said that may be related to the fact that some Kentuckians have health care for the first time in their life.

“I think we still have a long way to go toward education and getting people to change their lifestyles as far as what they can do for their health,” Adkins said. “I think a lot of people do have medical care for the first time in their life, but they need to use that more toward preventative” measures.

Fairview Community Health Center Executive Director Chris Keyser said it is too early to see the health outcomes the Affordable Care Act has had on Kentucky in less than two years since it was implemented. She said if the program continued the way it started in 2014, people would see it improving the health of Kentuckians. But those improvements can’t happen overnight, she said.

“What they rely on is being able to have systems in place like Medicaid, and when that happens through time that will affect a change in better health outcomes,” Keyser said.

The report also analyzes data from several other sources regarding health coverage, access to care, cost of care, quality of care and health outcomes. The 2016 semi-annual report of the Study of the Impact of the ACA Implementation in Kentucky said of Kentuckians who remain uninsured in 2016, 56.2 percent said it was too expensive or they could not afford it; 17 percent indicated reasons that suggested they were not interested in obtaining coverage; while 25 percent indicated reasons that suggested they were not opposed to obtaining insurance.

Keyser said that in 2017 Kentucky will have an increase in uninsured if the current governor has his way. She said the 1 in 5 statistic will probably rise because more Kentuckians won’t seek health care because they will not have insurance.

Gov. Matt Bevin has asked the federal government for waivers on some aspects of the initial Medicaid program. Without those Medicaid waivers, Bevin has said the program’s beneficiaries will contract.

“The bigger issue right now is we have a governor that’s planning to change all the progress we have to date and trying to dismantle the current Medicaid expansion program,” Keyser said. “If the governor is successful, we won’t be able to continue” that progress.

— Follow faith/general assignments reporter Simone C. Payne on Twitter @_SimonePayne or visit bgdailynews.com.