Author: Al Cross
-
Kentucky ranks 48th among states in percentage of kids getting summer meals from schools, but participation grew last year
Fewer than 8 percent of the Kentucky children who qualify for a summer meal program got such meals last summer, despite the availability of federal funds for it, according to...
-
Public hearings to be held Tuesday in Bowling Green, Wednesday in Frankfort and next week in Hazard plan for Medicaid changes
Public hearings on Gov. Matt Bevin’s plan to change the Medicaid program will be held Tuesday in Bowling Green, Wednesday in Frankfort and next week in Hazard. The Bowling Green...
-
Northern Ky. doctor who treats 300 addicts says many doctors don’t treat them because it’s not easy and often frustrating
“The sooner everyone understands that addiction needs to be treated as a disease, the sooner communities will make progress in battling the problem.” So says Dr. Mike Kalfas of Northern...
-
California insurance chief opposes Humana-Aetna merger, but state agency with actual authority approves it after commitments
“Shares of Aetna and Humana plunged Thursday afternoon after the insurance commissioner of the country’s most populous state said he opposes the proposed merger of the two health insurance giants,”...
-
Reaction to Medicaid plan is predictably mixed; critics predict federal officials won’t approve work-oriented requirements
By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News Reactions to Gov. Matt Bevin’s plan to change Medicaid were predictably mixed, from health-reform advocates saying it is “paternalistic,” too complex,...
-
Bevin offers ‘transformative’ Medicaid program with premiums, incentives, work-oriented requirements; expansion at stake
“It’s not about the money for the premiums, it’s about the learningexperience.” –Mark Birdwhistell, Medicaid adviser to Gov. Bevin (Lexington Herald-Leader photo by Charles Bertram) By Al Cross and Melissa...
-
Dangers of HIV and hepatitis from intravenous drug use reach far beyond addicts and families, threatening a wide swath of Ky.
The growing use of heroin and the abuse of prescription painkillers in Kentucky also mean that the state “is being ravaged by the diseases that follow in their wake: hepatitis...
-
AMA, led by Ky. doctor, says gun violence is public-health crisis; calls for research, background checks, waiting periods for all guns
The American Medical Association, led by a Kentucky emergency-room physician, declared gun violence a public-health crisis last week and endorsed waiting periods an background checks for purchases of all firearms,...
-
Painkillers appear to increase risk of deaths other than overdoses, according to new study of Medicaid patients in Tennessee
“Accidental overdoses aren’t the only deadly risk from using powerful prescription painkillers,” The Associated Press reports. “The drugs may also contribute to heart-related deaths and other fatalities, new research suggests.”...