Month: January 2013
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Poor, rural mothers-to-be have high levels of stress, and few resources to help them handle it, small-scale study concludes
Low-income pregnant women in rural areas experience high levels of stress, but lack the appropriate means to manage their emotional well-being, according to a small-scale study at the University of Missouri....
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Feds plan to let states impose co-payments on Medicaid patients above poverty level to encourage them to expand the program
By Molly Burchett and Al Cross Kentucky Health News If Kentucky expands its Medicaid program, it will probably be able to reduce the cost by requiring patients whose incomes are...
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Prescription-painkiller epidemic is spurred by societal shift, experts say: People think every problem has a pill for an answer
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News The prescription-painkiller epidemic stems partly from an evolution of society’s views toward pain and how to deal with it, said experts at “The Different...
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Experts explain changes to state prescription-tracking system
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News The Kentucky All-Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system, the key to fighting doctor-shopping for painkillers in the state, has undergone several changes since the legislature...
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Ky. parents strongly favor increasing school dropout age, a step that could make future high-school students healthier
A statewide poll has found that Kentucky parents overwhelmingly favor increasing the state’s school dropout age, and doing so might help future high-school students’ health, according to the Foundation for a...
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FDA likely to make hydrocodone painkillers harder to prescribe
Prescription painkillers containing hydrocodone should be placed in a more restrictive federal category, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel of experts voted on Friday. The changes would be an effort to...
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Health reform will let insurers charge smokers up to 50 percent higher premiums, which is likely to have a big impact in Kentucky
“Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance” because the health-care reform law will let health-insurance companies charge smokers as much as 50 percent more starting next year...
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Health departments prepare for challenges posed by health-care reform law
No one really has a clue what changes from the health-care reform law will mean to Kentuckians and public health departments are preparing for the uncertainty, reports Kristy Cox of...
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Poll shows registered voters in Ky. favor expanding Medicaid
By Molly Burchett and Al Cross Kentucky Health News A statewide poll last month found that most registered voters in Kentucky, when presented with specific facts and options, generally favored expansion...
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Kentuckians think their children’s generation will be less healthy and worse off economically than current working-age generation
Forty percent of Kentucky adults think their children’s generation will be less healthy than the current generation of working-age Kentuckians, and 61 percent think the newer generation will be worse...