Author: Al Cross
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Kentucky ranked No. 1 in the percentage of cancer deaths that were related to smoking in 2014
Kentucky has long ranked No. 1 in cancer deaths, and in deaths from lung cancer, so it seems only natural that it rank first in deaths from smoking. It did...
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Cancer, and death from it, rose in rural Appalachia from 1969 to 2011; Appalachian Kentucky’s cancer-death rate was 36% higher
Appalachian Regional Commission service area From 1969 to 2011 the cancer death rate in rural Appalachia went from the nation’s lowest to its highest, says a study at the University of...
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Feds add Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties to Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, citing threats from illegal drugs
Citing the magnitude of threats posed by illegal drugs, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has added Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties to the Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking...
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Legislator, citing rural doctor shortages, files bill to give physician assistants authority to prescribe controlled substances
A Republican recently elected to the state House has filed legislation that would allow physician assistants to prescribe controlled substances, something they can do in every other state beginning in...
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Fighting cancer in Appalachia: Getting people screened ‘is still the hardest part;’ prevention requires multi-pronged effort, experts say
University of Kentucky video Leaders of the National Institutes of Health spent Thursday in Hazard with Fifth District U.S. Rep. Harold “Hal” Rogers and local health leaders to examine efforts...
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Baptist Health Plan says it pulled out of state exchange because it attracted too many healthy people and got penalized for it
Baptist Health Plan pulled out of Kentucky’s insurance exchange because it attracted too many healthy customers and thus drew a federal penalty, Boris Ladwig reports for Insider Louisville. “The narrative...
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Millions of Americans miss out on tax credits for health insurance because they don’t buy policies on government exchanges
Commonwealth Fund graphic: People who visited marketplaces, but didn’t enroll About 2.5 million Americans are overpaying for health insurance because they don’t use the government exchanges or marketplaces that provide...
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Congress includes Zika funding in stopgap spending bill
McConnell with other GOP Senate leaders, John Barrasso of Wyoming and John Cornyn of Texas (Getty Images photo by Alex Wong) Congress has finally appropriated $1.1 billion to fight the...
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Health-insurance premiums for 2017 will be more expensive
By Trudy Lieberman, Rural Health News Service Recently I got a note from a reader of these columns who lives in Warren, Ohio. He had seen conflicting reports about next...
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American Medical Association says Humana takeover by Aetna would reduce health-insurance competition in Kentucky
Humana Inc.‘s proposed takeover by Aetna Inc. would hurt health-insurance competition in 57 metropolitan areas in 15 states, especially Kentucky and Georgia, says an analysis by the American Medical Association....