Category: HEALTH POLICY
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What state-level strategies work against the opioid epidemic?
The opioid epidemic is a major issue in every state, but not all are tackling it in the same ways. The National Academy for State Health Policy, a nonpartisan group of...
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Gubernatorial candidate Adam Edelen endorses statewide smoking ban and raising cigarette tax to national average
Adam Edelen — By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Adam Edelen, a Democratic candidate for governor, has endorsed a statewide ban on smoking in indoor workplaces and an increase in...
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Ambulance tax in Trigg County getting hospital into the black
Trigg County (Wikipedia map) — “Trigg County’s new ambulance tax has already reaped benefits for the Trigg County Hospital” in Cadiz, Tonya S. Grace reports for the Kentucky New Era in Hopkinsville. The hospital expects to get...
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House health panel’s new chair starts fast, with bills to ban school tobacco use, study medical marijuana and spur drug treatment
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News State Rep. Kim Moser plans a busy first meeting as chair of the House Health and Family Services Committee on Thursday, Feb. 7. She...
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Financial straits of hospital in Breckinridge County illustrate many of the problems of small, rural hospitals all over Ky. and the U.S.
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News HARDINSBURG, Ky. – When the Breckinridge County Fiscal Court voted unanimously in December against raising property taxes to shore up the local hospital’s empty...
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1 in 5 Kentucky households delay or forgo medical care due to cost; higher co-payments and deductibles may be a factor
One in five Kentucky households delay or forgo medical care because of the cost, according to the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll, taken Aug. 26 through Oct. 21. The overall...
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Managed-care firms and legislators do another ‘Groundhog Day,’ but changes might be coming; Passport objects to recent cuts
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News FRANKFORT, Ky. — Medicaid managed care organizations and others in the health-insurance industry spent the first half of a three-hour meeting bragging about their...
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Is this the year Ky. lawmakers throw tobacco and e-cigarettes out of schools? Advocates see more hope, and rally for their bill
Rep. Kim Moser spoke at the tobacco-free-schools rally. (Photo by Charles Bertram, Lexington Herald-Leader) — At a Jan. 22 rally in the state Capitol, students, educators and health advocates asked...
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Counties where drug makers did more marketing had higher rates of overdoses from prescription painkillers, national study finds
Counties where doctors got more attention and favors from drug manufacturers were more likely to have a higher rate of overdoses from prescription opioids a year later, says a new...
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Federal shutdown delays lawsuit against state Medicaid changes
The partial shutdown of the federal government has slowed the lawsuit challenging Gov. Matt Bevin’s plan to revamp Kentucky’s Medicaid program with work requirements and premiums starting April 1. The...