Author: Al Cross
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Citing costs, Bevin has said he would shut down Kynect; actually, insurance companies pay for it; Medicaid is another matter
By Molly Burchett and Al Cross Kentucky Health News The governor’s race between Democrat Jack Conway and Republican Matt Bevin will spotlight the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, an...
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Paducah Sun looks at two local doctors who write many prescriptions for painkillers; such local data are easily available
The Paducah Sun has used some easily available information about two local doctors to shine a local light on their heavy prescribing of opioids. The story by Laurel Black begins,...
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State health commissioner backs needle exchanges, most controversial part of anti-heroin legislation passed this year
The Kentucky General Assembly cracked down in 2012 on “pill mills” that dispense painkillers irresponsibly, and addicts responded by going for heroin, creating a big problem in much of the...
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Lexington Herald-Leader says Kentucky Hospital Association report on members’ finances damages the group’s credibility
The Kentucky Hospital Association‘s recent “Code Blue” report on its members’ finances is a symptom of “financial hypochondria,” the Lexington Herald-Leader said in a long editorial Sunday. It said the...
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3,047 got private health insurance in special March-April signup designed to avoid or reduce tax penalty for not being covered
More than 3,000 Kentuckians signed up for health coverage during a special March-April enrollment period that allowed them to avoid or reduce tax penalties for being uninsured. “At the Feb....
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Elementary-school students prompt Middlesboro smoking ban
UPDATE, May 20: The council passed the ban with one member opposing it. Gary Mills said, “I don’t think it’s the government’s right to intrude on businesses owned by individuals....
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Southern Kentucky physician expands his in-school clinics; already in Russell County, will be in Adair County next year
Dr. Eric Loy (Columbia Magazine photo) An entrepreneurial physician in Southern Kentucky has developed a way to deliver school health services that could have a broader impact on communities. Cumberland...
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Anthem gives $140,000 for 3-county program to cut smoking by pregnant women, still at 21.9% in Ky., among highest in U.S.
Health departments in Christian, Hopkins and Madison counties will start a program called Giving Infants and Families Tobacco Free Starts, with a $140,000 grant to the state health department from...
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Washington Post columnist looks at data, talks to experts and concludes Obamacare is working, at less cost than expected
The federal health-reform law “has accomplished its goal of expanding coverage — at a significantly lower cost than expected,” columnist Ruth Marcus writes for The Washington Post “after talking to...
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Kentucky is one of three states to get Walmart Foundation money to expand farm-to-school programs
Kentucky will use money from The Walmart Foundation to partner with the National Farm to School Network to expand efforts to get more local foods into schools. A project called Seed Change will “jump...