Weekly newspaper's editorial advises readers to ignore 'irresponsible rhetoric' about Obamacare and find out the facts

The Sentinel-News, a twice-weekly newspaper in Shelbyville, reminded Kentuckians to pay close attention to the "irresponsible rhetoric" surrounding the launch of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Since registration opened Oct. 1, "misinformation and carefully constructed lies" abound, the paper said in an editorial. It reflects on how many people have "fallen victim" to exaggerated individual experiences posted on social media and "even worse, the acceptance and delivery of similar items by otherwise responsible broadcast news outlets."

The editorial says there is great disagreement about the viability of the law and both sides of the political aisle are producing statistic and "experience"-based arguments to sway you to their way of thinking.  It goes on to say that the Better Business Bureau has issued an alert about scammers trying to capitalize on the process, and it is easy for consumers to be "had" in this environment. Fact-checking organizations have called some of the information propaganda. Tragically, the editorial says, "the 'information' being distributed to validate their arguments appears to be flimsy and desperate and without sound base."

The message of this editorial is: Consumers, do your homework and check your facts. It recommends a visit to the website of KIPDA, a Louisville-region planning agency that is helping people navigate the new system; checking the website of the state health-insurance marketplace, Kynect, to see what insurance will cost you and your family; calling an information hot line; analyzing all of your options ; and doing the math: Are the new health care options more or less expensive, more or less restrictive than another option you may have?

And finally, the editorial reminds us to be patient: "All parties (need to) let it roll out, evaluate how it works and then adjust the law to ensure that it meets the needs of most Americans and provides the intended health care." (Read more)

Students in Kentucky are invited to celebrate Farm to School Week in annual Farm to School Art Contest

Kentucky students are invited to participate in the third annual Farm to School Art Contest, which celebrates Farm to School Week.

Entries must be drawn on 8 1/2-by-11-inch white unlined paper and have the theme "Farm to School Lunch ... Across Kentucky" printed on them, with the student's name, address, grade and school listed on the back.  Students are encouraged to make the entries colorful since they may be reproduced.

Contest entries must be mailed by Nov. 15 to Kentucky Farm to School Program coordinator Tina Garland, 107 Corporate Dr., Frankfort KY 40601.

Winners will be announced in December.  Each county will select winners in elementary, middle school/junior high and high school.  Statewide winners will get $50 for first place, $30 for second and $20 for third. Rewards will also be given to the first, second and third place school food-service directors and his or her staff.

The goal of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's Farm to School program is to bring high quality and fresh Kentucky Proud products to the school systems. At least 84 if Kentucky's 173 school districts are in the program, buying food from more than 80 producers, according to a  press release from the Kentucky Department of Education.

For more information about the Farm to School program, email Tina.Garland@ky.gov.

Free-for-all food program increases student participation, raises Ky. breakfast count by 25% with only 39% of districts participating

Kentucky schools participating in a program that provides free breakfast and lunch to all students in high-poverty schools have significantly increased student participation in school lunch and breakfast programs, Charles Edwards reports for Education Week.

Schools participating in the "community eligibility option" have increased student participation by 13 percent in the lunch program and 25 percent in the breakfast program during the first two years of its availability and eliminated significant administrative costs, according to the Washington-based Food Research Action Center and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Collectively, Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan achieved a 25 percent increase in breakfast participation over the first two years, Education Week reports.

Of the 174 school districts in Kentucky, 68 participate in the community eligibility option, Nancy Rodriguez of the Kentucky Department of Education told Kentucky Health News. That is 39 percent of the public school districts. One private school also participates.

The program allows high-poverty schools to serve all students free breakfasts and lunches without individually identifying children as eligible. Schools get about the same amount of reimbursement from the Department of Agriculture that they did under the existing system—but without the paperwork. The reimbursement is based on the total number of meals served.

The school nutrition director at Ballard County, a participant in the "community eligibility option," told Whitney Jones of WKMS-FM, Murray State's NPR station, that the district saves $500 per year per student eating both breakfast and lunch at school.

The traditional way to determine eligibility for free or reduced breakfast and lunch required families to fill out a parent-income survey, which discouraged some from enrolling. The new eligibility option has been rolled out incrementally since it was authorized by Congress in 2010, and all eligible schools in the country may participate beginning in the 2014-15 school year.

Now, the percentage of a school's children who are already enrolled in other federal need-based program or are homeless, migrant, in Head Start or in foster care, determines the eligibility of the school, reports Edward. If a school has an enrollment of at least 40 percent of such directly certified children, it is eligible. Some districts combine all their schools to include those that are below 40 percent.

Participation in the program has exceeded the original expectations, with more than 2,200 schools signed up in the first seven states allowed to participate. The original projection estimated 300 schools would participate over 10 years, Education Week reports.

Every Kentucky county has a local group working on health issues, foundation finds in compiling Health Coalitions Directory

For the first time, the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has documented that every Kentucky county has a local group working on health issues.

All 120 counties are listed in the Kentucky Health Coalitions Directory, which includes 208 groups. Last year’s first-ever directory listed fewer than 150. "Whether they are called health coalitions, collectives, consortia, associations or networks, people are joining forces to work on health-related challenges," the foundation said in a news release. "The groups have differing levels of organization and are pursuing various goals. Some are increasing access to healthy food and physical activity; others are planning needed screenings and education for people at risk for serious health problems like cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases; yet others are improving working conditions through smoke-free ordinances."

The foundation said it would periodically update the directory. “These are local residents working on solutions to health issues where they live, work and raise their families,” said Susan Zepeda, president and CEO of the foundation. “Their work spans a broad spectrum of issues that contain a common thread: to improve health in the community and our state. These groups represent local health change efforts.”

The directory is designed to raise awareness of local efforts and "foster collaboration, build local capacity, provide technical assistance to these groups and celebrate their successes," the foundation said. State and national coalitions, and international coalitions doing work that affects Kentucky, are included in the directory. To get a PDF of it, visit the foundation's newsroom at www.healthy-ky.org.

Ky.'s successful rollout of health-insurance exchange prompts New York Times to profile Beshear as 'a man on a mission'

A weekend article in The New York Times describes Gov. Steve Beshear as a man determined to prove that the health-reform law works, and says Kentucky stands out in many ways while the federal government is struggling to fix its health-insurance website. While comparisons are difficult, Trip Gabriel reports that Kentucky's health insurance marketplace is "one of the most successful" in the country.

Kentucky is the only Southern state to operate its own insurance exchange as well as to expand Medicaid coverage. "It is an anomaly on the polarized political map, and a test — in a red state that has elected to the Senate Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, and Rand Paul, a tea-party favorite — of whether bitterness over the law will dissolve if people decide it effectively provides affordable health care," Gabriel writes.

Gov. Steven L. Beshear, right, with employees at Kynect 
headquarters. He has said Kentuckians do not have to 
like President Obama or him to like the new health care law.

President Obama said last week that Kentucky may have had the most successful exchange launch. As of last week, some 34,000 Kentuckians had begun applications on Kynect, and more than 11,000 had signed up for plans.

At the federal level, exchanges have been plagued by technical "glitches" and to date, the Obama administration has failed to release official enrollment numbers. The Republican National Committee said Monday it was sending a Freedom of Information Act request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seeking Obamacare enrollment numbers, reports Caroline May of The Daily Caller.

About half a million people have started applications on the federal exchanges, administration officials said Saturday. The figure is only a snapshot of applications, and since the administration isn’t planning to release until next month the number of people who have actually enrolled in a health plan, much is left unsaid, writes Joanne Kenen of Politico. For now, it can only be said that Kentucky may have the most successful roll-out, and the governor is determined to make success a certainty.

Beshear told the Times his decision to embrace the law was not political. “To me this was a moral decision,” he said. “We’ve got 640,000 Kentuckians who don’t have access to any kind of affordable health care. The last ranking I saw, we’re 44th out of 50 in health status. You take any chronic disease or condition — heart disease, cancer, smoking, obesity, you name it — and we’re either the worst or close to the worst.”

In embracing the law, Beshear decided not to seek approval from the General Assembly for the exchange or the expansion of Medicaid, moves that brought a lawsuit and a circuit-court ruling supporting him. The state Supreme Court has been asked to hear the case, brought by tea-party activist David Adams of Nicholasville. Beshear said in a recent op-ed piece in the Times, "To those more worried about political power than Kentucky’s families, I say, 'Get over it.'"

“Steve Beshear is a man on a mission,” Al Cross, the director of the University of Kentucky's Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of Kentucky Health News, told Gabriel. “He no longer has to worry about politics.” Beshear, who is in his second term, cannot seek re-election in 2015.

While many Kentuckians are concerned about Obamacare's effect on their health insurance or the state budget, Beshear blamed the law’s unpopularity on Republicans who were "demonizing" it. "You don’t have to like the president; you don’t have to like me," he told Gabriel. "Because this isn’t about him, and it’s not about me. It’s about you, your family and your children. So do yourself a favor. Find what you can get for yourself. You’re going to like what you find."

Resigned heart surgeon wins settlement from UK, which plans to upgrade program he left but won't say why it was suspended

Dr. Mark Plunkett

The University of Kentucky will pay Dr. Mark Plunkett more than $1 million as part of a settlement after Plunkett's pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program at UK was suspended for reasons still unclear.

The agreement with the heart surgeon comes after UK Healthcare was accused of hiding information about both the pediatric heart surgery program's suspension and about its surgery-related deaths. Statistics were released regarding the program's mortality rates, but reasons for its suspension remain unclear.

UK's settlement agreement with Plunkett, which the Lexington Herald-Leader obtained under Kentucky's Open Records Act, says he will receive salary supplements over two years to make up the possible difference between his former UK salary of $700,000 and future annual earnings. He is required to make efforts to find employment.

Plunkett will receive at least $1.05 million but no more than a total of $1.75 million, reports Linda Blackford of the Herald-Leader. In addition to this larger payment, if he is unemployed, as he now is, UK will pay him $350,000 a year between May 1, 2015 and April, 30, 2017. The settlement also calls for Plunkett's agreement not to speak to the news media.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/10/17/2881676/university-of-kentucky-to-pay.html#storylink=cPlunkett's agreement not to speak to the media,

Plunkett came to UK in 2007 from the UCLA Medical Center and was the chief cardiothoracic surgeon before the pediatric program was suspended. In July of this year, Plunkett accepted a new job at the University of Florida, which was scheduled to begin Sept. 1. However, UF officials recently says it was in their "best interests" to for them to part ways.

After suspending the pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program, Blackford writes, "UK waged a legal battle to keep the mortality rates for Plunkett's program secret. But after CNN ran a lengthy story on the topic in August and identified two babies who died, UK voluntarily released the mortality rates." She also says UK officials declined to comment on the settlement, except to say it would be paid out of clinical revenues, not state revenues.

UK Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Dr. Michael Karpf convened a task force and charged it with providing recommendations regarding the future of the program. The nearly 30-member taskforce released a report Friday that outlined a series of steps that will be taken in the coming months to re-open it, says a UK news release.

The more than 100-page report assesses the program and offers recommendations to re-institute it without providing specific details about why it was suspended in the first place. Click here for more information.

After an initial fight, UK did release mortality statistics for pediatric heart surgery program in August. The mortality rates at UK averaged 5.8 percent, ranging from 5.2 percent to 7.1 from 2010 to 2012. UK said the numbers were comparable to the national average of 5.3 percent for programs of similar size, reports WKYT-TV.

UK officials remain positive about the program's outlook. "Our current patient care ranking of 12th among the nation’s university health systems is a reflection of the dedication and skill of our nurses, doctors and staff, as well as, their unrelenting pursuit of improvement," Karpf said. "That's the kind of commitment we will bring to re-instituting this program as well."

Meanwhile, UK's Chandler Medical Center was named a "rising star" among academic health-care facilities.

KET program to feature citizens who work in three programs to improve the health of Kentucky children

The next episode of  KET's "Health Three60" series will be a program that features citizens who have made a difference in the health of Kentucky children. "Champions for Children's Health" premieres Monday, Oct. 21 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. It is available online at www.ket.org.

Featured will be guest from HANDS (Health Access Nurturing Development Services), a  home-visitation program for new and expectant parents; Better Bites, of Lexington, whose goal is to transform the snacking culture to reduce childhood obesity; and Doctors and Lawyers for Kids, a Louisville group that helps families with legal issues, such as housing, custody and immigration, that may impact children’s health.

HANDS is a well-regarded, statewide program that works toward healthy pregnancies and births, healthy child growth and development, safe homes and self-sufficient families.  Referred participants begin the process with a home visit that determines the needs and concerns a family might have about pregnancy or a baby's first year.  Families then receive information and learn about resources available in the community to help them and based on the needs of the family, some will receive continued home visits.  This program is available not only to first-time Kentucky moms and/or dads, but also to expectant parents. The premise of the program is that early family intervention improves the well-being of the entire community.