Health
Seeking ‘healing justice’ for Black women who have substance use disorder
LOUISVILLE — The Volunteers of America chapter that includes Kentucky will spend $123,000 over the next nine months to make sure more Black women get access to treatment for substance use disorder. Volunteers of America Mid-States is using this grant money, which came from the Kentucky Association of Health Plans, to fund a new initiative […]
University of Kentucky will not build hospital in southeast Lexington, state lawmakers hear
FRANKFORT — The University of Kentucky will not build a hospital in southeast Lexington because it wants to do what its network of rural hospital partners want: focus on its mission as a top-level care facility for the sickest patients, a UK vice president told a legislative subcommittee Wednesday. The proposed Hamburg-area hospital “was perceived […]
Kentuckian Hadley Duvall in Biden abortion ad says Trump and Vance ‘don’t care about women’
A Kentucky woman who talked about abortion in a pivotal campaign ad for Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear last year is now up on airwaves supporting President Joe Biden on the same issue. Hadley Duvall, an Owensboro native who is now in her early 20s, told the Kentucky Lantern last year that she began sharing her […]
Kentucky ranks low in women’s health and reproductive care
As the worst of COVID-19 subsided in 2022 and a trigger law banning most abortions went into effect upon the fall of Roe v. Wade, Kentucky was already among the worst-performing states for women’s health. This insight comes from The Commonwealth Fund’s 2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care, a first-of-its kind ranking […]
Biden tests positive for COVID, will return home to Delaware
President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to statements from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and the president’s doctor. “Earlier today following his first event in Las Vegas, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19,” Jean-Pierre wrote in her statement. “He is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms.” Biden […]
Beshear says federal government should reclassify marijuana to recognize its medical uses
In a Wednesday letter sent to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he supports reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule I controlled substance to Schedule III. That would move marijuana from a DEA designation that says it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse” to having “a moderate […]
In a win for dogs like Ethan, first offense animal torture now a felony in Kentucky
Legislators and advocates who pushed for years to make dog and cat torture a felony on first offense gathered in the Capitol Rotunda Tuesday to celebrate a new Kentucky law that does just that. House Bill 258, also called Ethan’s Law, allows a person to be charged with a Class D felony the first and […]
Healthy coincidence? Kentucky’s adult smoking rate, cigarette tax collections decline
Increasing state cigarette taxes has proven to be an effective policy to decrease smoking rates, and it appears that is also true in Kentucky. Nearly 30 percent of Kentucky adults smoked in 2011, two years after the legislature had doubled the cigarette tax to 60 cents a pack. Following a 50-cent increase to $1.10 in […]
Kentuckians nearing release from prison or juvenile detention in line for Medicaid coverage
Kentucky is one of five additional states that will soon provide Medicaid health coverage for people nearing release from prison or juvenile detention, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “We’ve been eagerly anticipating CMS’s approval of Kentucky’s healthy re-entry demonstration for years now,” said Emily Beauregard, executive director of Kentucky Voices […]
Kentucky auditor, cabinet clash over access to child abuse database as new law takes effect
FRANKFORT — The legislature last year moved responsibility for a watchdog office and child support enforcement from the Beshear administration to Republican officeholders. Barely out of the gate, one of the transitions is stumbling over a disagreement about access to a child abuse database. Republican Auditor of Public Accounts Allison Ball on Tuesday sent what […]
Federal regulator: Pharmacy middlemen appear to be raising prices, hurting patients
The federal trade watchdog has released an interim report Tuesday saying that sprawling health care conglomerates are driving out competition in the pharmacy sector and appear to be increasing prices in the process. The interim report comes after the Federal Trade Commission in 2022 announced that it was undertaking a sweeping investigation of pharmacy middlemen […]
Kentuckians give blood for chance to see Taylor Swift. Ticket giveaway credited with donor surge.
FRANKFORT — A Taylor Swift ticket giveaway worth thousands of dollars and aimed at incentivizing more people to donate blood worked, Kentucky Blood Center donor numbers show. From May 28 through June 29, anyone who donated at any Kentucky Blood Center location was entered to win two Eras Tour tickets for Nov. 3 in Indianapolis. […]