Author: Al Cross
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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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UK, not questioned mental-health agency, will run Eastern State
Herald-Leader photo by Mark Mahan: Hospital nears completion The University of Kentucky will manage the new Eastern State Hospital, replacing the Bluegrass Regional Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board, which has operated...
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Molly Burchett is new chief writer for Kentucky Health News
Kentucky Health News welcomes a new reporter, writer and blogger: Molly Burchett, a master’s student in health communication at the University of Kentucky. Burchett graduated from Transylvania University in 2009...
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Get those eyes examined, or a ‘sneak thief’ might steal your sight
January is Glaucoma Awareness Month, so the Kentucky Optometric Association is emphasizing the need for an annual dilated eye exam. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the U.S.,...
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Pike court will keep lawsuit county and attorney general filed against Purdue Pharma over damage done by its OxyContin
A state court will hear the Kentucky attorney general’s 2007 lawsuit against OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, against the wishes of the company. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit...
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3 in 5 Kentucky adults favor a statewide smoking ban, according to an independent poll that may have oversampled smokers
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Kentuckians now favor a statewide smoking ban by a margin of 3 to 2, according to the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll conducted last...
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Fiscal-cliff deal revives program that helps rural hospitals dependent on Medicare; 200 in nation, 10 in Kentucky
Even though most of the hospital industry wasn’t happy with the fiscal-cliff deal that will only pay half the $30 billion needed to avoid a 27 percent Medicare fee cut...
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Painkiller epidemic was driven in part by drug makers’ financial relationships with researchers who discounted the risks
For almost a decade, medical officials and experts claimed OxyContin rarely posed problems of addiction for patients. The drug’s label, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, said addiction...
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Health reform drives hospital mergers and affiliations, and makes clinical collaborations more important
Is your community’s hospital one of the many rural hospitals considering sale, merger or affiliation with a larger hospital or group of hospitals, all options that are becoming more common,...