Category: HEALTH POLICY
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Sponsor of bill to ban tobacco use at all public schools and events files last-ditch amendment to give districts 3 years to opt out of it
Rep. Kim Moser — This is an updated version of a story that was first published Saturday, March 2. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News FRANKFORT, Ky. — The sponsor...
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State officials defend handling of hepatitis A outbreak as an additional warning is revealed and legislators voice concern
Health Secretary Adam Meier (center) led a March 1 news conference on hepatitis A. Sen. Ralph Alvarado (left) and Sen. MorganMcGarvey (right) have want to examine the state’s response to the outbreak. (Facebook Live image) — By Melissa Patrick...
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Tobacco-free-school bill on life support; move afoot to make 21 legal age for e-cigs; some legislators want just one tobacco bill
Health advocates rallied at the state Capitol Feb. 28 to ask legislators to bring the tobacco-free school bill up for a vote, saying it has the votes to pass. (Photos...
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Guthrie tries to preserve funding for Medicaid program that gets beneficiaries out of facilities and into community-based support
Brett Guthrie (Ft. Collins Coloradoan photo) — U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie is working to find money to save a program aimed at moving Medicaid beneficiaries, mainly those with disabilities, out of...
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Health providers and advocates oppose Medicaid co-payment, say it creates barrier to care and administrative burden
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Health advocates at a regulatory meeting about the state’s new Medicaid co-payment requirements said the new rule is riddled with problems, all of which they anticipated....
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Bill to raise legal age to buy tobacco products to 21 fails on 4-6 committee vote; bill’s effectiveness questioned, called ‘PR move’
Sen. Steve Meredith, middle, with Altria Vice President David Fernandez, right, and Juul Labs lobbyist Jennifer Cunningham on his bill to raise the legal age for buying tobacco products. (Photo: Adam Beam, The Associated Press)...
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Ambulance runs for rural patients are 76% longer when their hospital closes, and for seniors, it’s 98% longer, study finds
When a rural hospital closes, it’s logical to assume that patients in its former service area will spend more time in ambulances getting to an emergency room farther away. A University...
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Report on Medicaid pharmacy managers confirms they make a profit at the expense of pharmacies; calls for new payment model
Sen. Max Wise has been outspoken in his criticism of pharmacy benefit managers. A “long-awaited state report” on how pharmacy benefit managers are paid seems to confirm the suspicion that...
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Tobacco-free schools bill is in trouble in the House; sponsor, a Republican, can’t get enough of her party’s members to be for it
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A bill to make all Kentucky school properties and events tobacco-free is in trouble in the state House, prompting advocates to mount a rescue...
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Ky. officials rejected infectious-disease chief’s plea to move faster against hepatitis A outbreak, now nation’s largest and deadliest
As part of a package of stories about Kentucky’s hepatitis A outbreak, which is the “worst this century, sickening nearly 4,100 and killing 40,” Laura Ungar and Chris Kenning of...