Health News
- Pharmacy Chain With 65 Ky. Stores Will Stop Selling Tobacco
CVS Caremark pharmacies will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all of its 7,600 U.S. stores by Oct. 1. Kentucky has 65 CVS Caremark stores. This is the first national pharmacy chain to make this decision. "CVS Caremark sets a powerful...
- Smoking Ban Can't Get A Vote Due To Republican Boycott Over Chairman's Block Of Measure For Drug Tests For Welfare Recipients
There could have been a vote Thursday on a bill for a statewide smoking ban, but a Republican boycott of the Democratic-controlled House Health and Welfare Committee over another bill prevented that. "Republicans were upset over the committee chairman's...
- Spend $1 On Smoking Cessation, Save $3 In Health Costs, Massachusetts Study Finds
Every $1 spent on smoking cessation in Massachusetts, saved $3 in health costs, a study of low-income Bay State residents found. That could bode well for the impact of a new smoking-cessation benefit in Kentucky's Medicaid program. Massachusetts...
- No Vote Taken On Bill For Drug Tests For Recipients Of Public Aid
Despite motions to do so Thursday, the House Health and Welfare Committee did not vote on a bill that would require Kentuckians who receive public assistance to submit to random drug testing. The bill did not receive a vote because there is no money to...
- State's Tobacco Quit Line Is Now Available To Users Aged 15-17
The state Tobacco Quit Line will now offer counseling services to Kentuckians aged 15 to 17 to help them give up cigarettes or other tobacco products. The line had been available only to people 18 and older. Public Health Commissioner William Hacker,...
Health News
Smokers shouldn't get Medicaid or Medicare, says freshman Republican lawmaker who grows tobacco
State Rep. Jonathan Shell of Lancaster, a young Republican who grows tobacco, is against a statewide smoking ban. No surprise there, but how about this: He also says people who use tobacco should't be able to get Medicaid benefits.
?As I don?t think we have should have a smoking ban, I also think if you?re going to be smoking, you should have to sign a waiver that you will not get onto Medicaid or Medicare ... so the taxpayers [don't] have to end up forking over those dollars because you made the wrong decision to smoke and put those carcinogens into your body,? Shell told Ryan Alessi on cn|2's "Pure Politics."
Shell, who is in his first term in the House, sponsored legislation this year to require drug testing for anyone who applies for government benefits such as Medicaid or food stamps, which he said "should be a last resort." His predecessor, Republican Lonnie Napier of Lancaster, was a leading advocate of such legislation.
Most of Alessi's five-and-a-half minute interview with Shell dealt with the workings of the tobacco industry. He said the free market will determine when he switches from growing tobacco to another crop, and he is already raising vegetables and flowers. He said his free-market and indiviphilosophy makes him oppose a smoking ban.
?As I don?t think we have should have a smoking ban, I also think if you?re going to be smoking, you should have to sign a waiver that you will not get onto Medicaid or Medicare ... so the taxpayers [don't] have to end up forking over those dollars because you made the wrong decision to smoke and put those carcinogens into your body,? Shell told Ryan Alessi on cn|2's "Pure Politics."
Shell, who is in his first term in the House, sponsored legislation this year to require drug testing for anyone who applies for government benefits such as Medicaid or food stamps, which he said "should be a last resort." His predecessor, Republican Lonnie Napier of Lancaster, was a leading advocate of such legislation.
- Pharmacy Chain With 65 Ky. Stores Will Stop Selling Tobacco
CVS Caremark pharmacies will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all of its 7,600 U.S. stores by Oct. 1. Kentucky has 65 CVS Caremark stores. This is the first national pharmacy chain to make this decision. "CVS Caremark sets a powerful...
- Smoking Ban Can't Get A Vote Due To Republican Boycott Over Chairman's Block Of Measure For Drug Tests For Welfare Recipients
There could have been a vote Thursday on a bill for a statewide smoking ban, but a Republican boycott of the Democratic-controlled House Health and Welfare Committee over another bill prevented that. "Republicans were upset over the committee chairman's...
- Spend $1 On Smoking Cessation, Save $3 In Health Costs, Massachusetts Study Finds
Every $1 spent on smoking cessation in Massachusetts, saved $3 in health costs, a study of low-income Bay State residents found. That could bode well for the impact of a new smoking-cessation benefit in Kentucky's Medicaid program. Massachusetts...
- No Vote Taken On Bill For Drug Tests For Recipients Of Public Aid
Despite motions to do so Thursday, the House Health and Welfare Committee did not vote on a bill that would require Kentuckians who receive public assistance to submit to random drug testing. The bill did not receive a vote because there is no money to...
- State's Tobacco Quit Line Is Now Available To Users Aged 15-17
The state Tobacco Quit Line will now offer counseling services to Kentuckians aged 15 to 17 to help them give up cigarettes or other tobacco products. The line had been available only to people 18 and older. Public Health Commissioner William Hacker,...