Author: Al Cross
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County boards of health are being told to take a more active role in improving the health of their communities
Christian County’s health director told the county Board of Health last week that it “needs to spend less time on the health department’s budget and more time addressing big questions...
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Pikeville newspaper spotlights local doctors and pharmacists charged in prescription pain-pill epidemic, forecasts more action
The Appalachian News-Express, the thrice-weekly newspaper in Pikeville, has turned the spotlight on Pike County physicians and pharmacists who are aiding and abetting the abuse of prescription painkillers. We have...
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Hopkinsville council, absent a proponent, narrowly replaces smoking ban idea with plan to require posted smoking policies
The effort to pass a smoking ban in the largest Kentucky town without one may have hit a roadblock Thursday night. The Hopkinsville City Council forwarded a smoking ordinance that...
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Central Baptist takes over Russell County Hospital
Russell County Hospital in Russell Springs will be managed by Lexington’s Central Baptist Hospital, at least for the next three years. The deal announced this week is the latest in...
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National Breastfeeding Week, Aug. 1-7, focuses attention on need for supportive families, friends and employers
World Breastfeeding Week is Aug. 1-7, so the state Department for Public Health is pointing out the importance of providing support for breastfeeding families. “We encourage mothers to breastfeed to...
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Beshear says he will expand Medicaid if state can afford it, says ‘If we’ve got a healthier Kentucky, we’re all better off’
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Gov. Steve Beshear said today that he would expand Kentucky’s Medicaid program under the federal health-reform law if the state can afford the cost....
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Are fallacies about health reform becoming accepted wisdom? Former New York Times editor Bill Keller says he fears so
“A number of fallacies seem to be congealing into accepted wisdom” about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, former New York Times editor Bill Keller writes for the paper....
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Lacking money, insurance and dentists, oral health takes a back seat, and many rural areas are barely on the bus
A dentist works at a Remote Area Medical Clinic in Wise, Va.(Associated Press photo by Steve Helber) Dr. Nikki Stone is a dentist who works in Hazard, Ky., at a...
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Who is on Medicaid already? Not all poor Kentuckians, foundation president says on op-ed distributed to Kentucky newspapers
By Susan Zepeda President and CEO, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision upholding much of the Affordable Care Act, states have many...
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If Kentucky expands Medicaid, no other state would have a larger percentage drop in the uninsured, Kaiser Commission says
“Kentucky will benefit most from the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured,” Lorie Hailey writes...