Category: YOUR HEALTH
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State Senate committee approves bill to remove insurance-company barriers to smoking-cessation treatments
Feb. 22 Update: SB89 passed 35-2 out of the full Senate and now heads to the House for consideration. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentuckians could...
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Ky. uninsured rate has dropped significantly under Obamacare, but many struggle with maintaining stable coverage
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Many more Kentuckians have health insurance because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but more than one in five Kentucky adults under...
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Humana says it will pull out of government health-insurance exchanges next year
Humana Inc. announced Feb. 14 that it would stop selling health insurance through the government marketplaces created by federal health reform. That made the Louisville-based company “the first major insurer to cast...
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Study analysis by Ky. critic of hospital safety estimates more than 200,000 preventable hospital-associated deaths each year
An analysis of two well-controlled studies estimates that the number of preventable hospital-associated deaths are over 200,000 each year, argues a commentary in the Journal of Patient Safety. In an...
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KET examines successful recoveries from opioid addiction, airs a forum to discuss Kentucky’s opioid crisis
Kentucky Educational Television is airing “Journey to Recovery,” a documentary that looks at Kentucky’s opioid epidemic and explores the state’s available treatment options through personal stories of recovery. The program,...
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Republicans will not only keep the Medicaid expansion, they will broaden it, says Lamar Alexander, Senate health panel chair
Sen. Lamar Alexander (Photo by M. Scott Mahaskey, Politico) Republicans in Congress will not only keep the expansion of Medicaid, but will broaden it, says U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of...
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Newspapers big and small tackle Kentucky’s opioid epidemic
The opioid epidemic, and the growing concern about stronger and more lethal painkillers, is getting plenty of coverage by major news outlets in Kentucky, one of the states most troubled...
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As Republicans wait to address Obamacare, Democrats and supporters of the law appear to gain new footing
This story has been updated. “Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare could help Democrats do what they have been unable to for seven years: sell the American people on the benefits...
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Bill to ban tobacco products from school property and activities heads to full Senate after change to satisfy school officials
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News FRANKFORT, Ky. – The idea of a statewide ban on smoking in workplaces has hit roadblocks in the General Assembly, but a bill to...
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Pharmacies dispensing opioids thrive in Clay County, which leads Kentucky in doses of hydrocodone per person: 150 a year
Pharmacies dispensing opioids are thriving in an impoverished, coal-depressed county in Eastern Kentucky, Phil Galewitz reports for Kaiser Health News. In Clay County (Wikipedia map) the unemployment rate is 8.4 percent,...