Author: Al Cross
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Humana says it will pull out of government health-insurance exchanges next year
Humana Inc. announced Feb. 14 that it would stop selling health insurance through the government marketplaces created by federal health reform. That made the Louisville-based company “the first major insurer to cast...
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Republicans will not only keep the Medicaid expansion, they will broaden it, says Lamar Alexander, Senate health panel chair
Sen. Lamar Alexander (Photo by M. Scott Mahaskey, Politico) Republicans in Congress will not only keep the expansion of Medicaid, but will broaden it, says U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of...
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Newspapers big and small tackle Kentucky’s opioid epidemic
The opioid epidemic, and the growing concern about stronger and more lethal painkillers, is getting plenty of coverage by major news outlets in Kentucky, one of the states most troubled...
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As Republicans wait to address Obamacare, Democrats and supporters of the law appear to gain new footing
This story has been updated. “Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare could help Democrats do what they have been unable to for seven years: sell the American people on the benefits...
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Pharmacies dispensing opioids thrive in Clay County, which leads Kentucky in doses of hydrocodone per person: 150 a year
Pharmacies dispensing opioids are thriving in an impoverished, coal-depressed county in Eastern Kentucky, Phil Galewitz reports for Kaiser Health News. In Clay County (Wikipedia map) the unemployment rate is 8.4 percent,...
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Comparing national ratings that compare Kentucky hospitals
A federal agency, magazines and a consulting group have compiled ratings that allow comparison of hospitals. Now Dr. Kevin Kavanagh of Somerset-based Health Watch USA has compiled the ratings, allowing...
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Republican senators scale back statewide smoking-ban efforts to schools, where local officials ‘don’t want to be tobacco police’
Two Republican state senators who couldn’t make progress toward a statewide smoke-free law are shooting for a lesser goal: a ban on use of tobacco products on public school property...
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Head lice spread in Hopkins County elementary schools; committee of school staff and parents formed to tackle problem
Head lice are becoming a greater problem in elementary schools in Hopkins County, reports The Messenger, which published the numbers of cases reported at each school in the last four...
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Did Medicaid expansion make people move from non-expansion states to Kentucky? A study suggests it did not
When Kentucky expanded Medicaid and Tennessee and Virginia didn’t, did that prompt some people to move from Tennessee and Virginia to Kentucky? A study suggests that it did not. There...
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Ky. still pursuing Medicaid waiver; Obamacare repeal could convert the program to block grants, giving states more flexibility
Kentucky will continue pursuing its proposed changes for the expanded Medicaid program even if Congress repeals and replaces the law that authorized the expansion, state Health Secretary Vickie Yates Brown...