Hopkinsville newspaper says it's time for legislators to capitalize on strong public support for a statewide smoking ban

Noting the results of a poll that show two-thirds of Kentuckians support a statewide ban on smoking in public places, the Kentucky New Era of Hopkinsville said in an editorial, "It is time to capitalize on the public’s support for smoke-free legislation."

The locally owned daily, in a town where tobacco remains influential, said "Kentucky lawmakers — especially those from rural areas where tobacco interests have political influence and where residents value private property rights — have been reluctant to expose themselves to any backlash from opponents of smoke-free laws. Unfortunately, this kind of political calculation ignores the heavy toll of tobacco on Kentucky’s health."

The paper noted that a smoking-ban bill "died in the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville. Obviously, Senate leaders expected Westerfield to let the bill languish. The appropriate assignment for the bill would have been the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, chaired by a supporter of the legislation. If the bill does land in Westerfield’s committee again, we hope he will ensure the measure advances to a floor vote."

Jane Beshear launches campaign for new cancer screening van

First Lady Jane Beshear, along with representatives from the Kentucky Cancer Program, the University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center and KentuckyOne Health, have launched another "Horses and Hope" campaign to raise $1 million for a mobile unit that will provide cancer screenings to under-served populations across Kentucky.

Churchill Downs has committed $90,000 and Kroger $25,000 toward the new cancer screening van, , said a news release from the governor's office.

“For years, the Horses and Hope program has been one of the driving forces behind the portable mammography unit that travels throughout the state offering breast cancer screenings and promoting the message that early detection saves lives,” Beshear said in the release. “We now have the opportunity to expand these services to screen for six additional forms of cancer, and continue our efforts to improve the health and wellness of Kentuckians throughout the commonwealth.”

Kentucky ranks first in the nation for cancer and cancer deaths, with an overall cancer incidence rate that is 14 percent greater than the national average.

The custom-built van will be fully equipped to educate Kentuckians about cancer prevention, and offer screenings for seven cancer types, including breast, cervical, colon, lung, prostate, skin and head/neck at no or little cost to the patient.

For more information and donation opportunities, visit the Horses and Hope site at www.horsesandhope.org/.

Two-thirds of Kentuckians support a statewide ban on smoking in most public places; Stumbo says it's time for a House floor vote

Kentuckians have remained steady in their support for a comprehensive statewide smoking ban with two-thirds supporting it, according to the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll. Hours after the poll was released, state House Speaker Greg Stumbo said it is time for a House floor vote on the proposal.

The poll, taken Oct. 8 through Nov. 6, found that 66 percent of adults favored a law that would prohibit smoking in most public places, while 29 percent opposed it. These are virtually the same results as last year when 65 percent supported the ban and 29 percent opposed it. The poll's error margin is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

The poll was conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati for the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and Interact for Health, formerly the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.

Majorities in each political party supported a statewide smoke-free law: 68 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of independents. These results were also almost the same as last year. Support for a statewide smoke-free ban decreased among those with a high-school education or less, but increased among those who had been to college. For the detailed results, click here.

Not surprisingly,the poll found that 80 percent of Kentucky adults who have never smoked and 71 percent of former smokers support such a law, while only 40 percent of current smokers do; 53 percent said they oppose it and 7 percent said they didn't know or weren't sure.

Those who said they were in excellent or very good health were most likely to favor a ban, at 75 percent. Generally, the unhealthier the respondent, the less likely he or she was to favor it. Among those who said they were in fair or poor health, 55 percent favored a ban.

Lexington (75 percent) and Louisville (74 percent) showed the highest levels of support for the ban. While most of those in Appalachian area-development districts support it, support in Appalachian Kentucky declined to 54 percent in 2014 from 72 percent in 2013. That was offset by gains in other areas. The error margin for this smaller sample is plus or minus 5.4 percentage points.

Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have comprehensive smoke-free laws. Kentucky has several reasons to pass one. It leads the nation in smoking as well as lung cancer and deaths from it. Second-hand smoke is estimated to kill 950 Kentuckians a year, and research indicates that it increases the risk of heart and lung disease by 20 to 30 percent.

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky noted in its news release that the 2006 U.S. Surgeon General Report recommends "eliminating all exposure to secondhand smoke" and last years report "offered evidence that smoke-free indoor air policies are effective in reducing exposure to secondhand smoke."

A smoking ban came closest to a floor vote in the full House last year, but has never gotten out of committee in the Senate. House Speaker Greg Stumbo said on KET's "Kentucky Tonight" Monday that it is time for a floor vote, the best sign yet that it will get one. But Senate President Robert Stivers maintained that smoking bans should be done locally, not statewide.

After four days this week devoted to organization and ethics training, the legislature will recess until early February. The session of 30 legislative days must end by March 31.

Another study suggests that lack of walking and other physical activity damages blood vessels and causes many health issues

If you are looking for a reason to commit to daily exercise in 2015, here are two: The U.S. surgeon general says most of us only exercise about half the recommended amount to be healthy, and a new study shows that this lack of activity damages our blood vessels, which contributes to much of what ails us.

Research at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, found that going from high (10,000 steps a day) to low levels of daily physical activity (5,000 steps a day) for just five days decreases the function of the inner lining of the blood vessels in the legs, according to a news release from the university.

“The impairment we saw in just five days was quite striking,” Paul Fadel, associate professor of medical pharmacology and physiology at the university, said in the release. “It shows just how susceptible the vascular system is to physical inactivity.” Previous studies have found that a decrease in blood-vessel function is linked to early cardiovascular death and hypertension.

Kentucky is the ninth most inactive state, with almost one-third (30.2 percent) of Kentuckians reporting in a national survey that they did not engage in physical activity or exercise during the previous 30 days other than doing their regular jobs, according to the State of Obesity report.

A collective New Year's resolution by Kentuckians to increase their physical activity, if kept, would help improve almost every health issue that plagues our state: obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease. Kentucky ranks fifth in obesity, 17th in diabetes and fifth in hypertension, and is projected to have more than 1 million cases of heart disease by 2010, the report says.

“Inactivity is typically going to lead to people being overweight and obese,” Fadel said. “The next step after that is insulin resistance, which leads to Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

So, how much activity do we need to keep our blood vessels healthy? 10,000 steps every day, says the surgeon general. But the reality is that most of us only take 5,000 steps a day, which is considered a low activity level. The research for this study is based on 30 minutes of moderate activity a day.

“We need to teach and explain to people about the physiology of their bodies and the physiology of the disease process and help them understand that inactivity plays a foundational role in the disease process,” John Thyfault, associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the university, said.

“Then we give them behavioral tools, like pedometers, to monitor and help them achieve higher physical activity so they start to see and feel health improvements. These studies are proof we need to get people to understand their activity every day plays a role in their health, and that their health is not simply a matter of body weight and how they look in the mirror.”

Penalty for those without health insurance in 2015 will be significantly higher than for 2014; Feb. 15 is deadline to sign up

Wall Street Journal photo illustration

One aspect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act supporters don't spend much time talking about is the part of the law that imposes a penalty on those who don't have insurance, but the time has come for the uninsured to pay up.

This is the first year taxpayers are required to report to the Internal Revenue Service whether they have health insurance, and charged a fine if they don't, as required by the federal health care law.

This year's fine is $95 per adult or 1 percent of the household income, whichever is greater. This fine will increase significantly in 2015 to $325 per adult or 2 percent of household income, whichever is greater. And will increase again in 2016 to $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater.

Dayna Dayson of Phoenix, Ariz., estimates that she’ll have to pay $290 in fines this year when she files her federal return, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar reports for The Associated Press. Dayson, who’s in her early 30s and works in marketing, said she would like to have health insurance, as required by the law, but can't afford it.

“It’s touted as this amazing thing, but right now, for me, it doesn't fit into my budget,” she told AP.

It is too late to avoid this year's penalty, unless you qualify for one of about 30 exemptions, most of which are related to financial hardships, Alonso-Zaldivar notes, but you can avoid a penalty next year if you sign up for health coverage by Feb. 15, the last day of open enrollment.

Kentuckians can sign up for health insurance through Kynect, the state's health insurance exchange. Jan. 15 is the deadline to get covered by Feb. 1 and those who sign up by Feb. 15, the final enrollment deadline for 2015, will get coverage beginning March 1. Medicaid enrollment is open year-round.

"Roughly 4 million uninsured people will pay penalties and 26 million will qualify for exemptions from the list of more than 30 waivers," H&R Block says in a congressional analysis, Alonso-Zaldivar reports.

One reason many of the uninsured will end up paying a 2015 fine is that they don't know about the larger fine or the sign-up deadline to avoid this penalty.

Only 3 percent of uninsured people know what the fine for 2015 will be, according to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. And just 5 percent of uninsured people know the correct deadline, according to a Kaiser poll, Alonso-Zaldivar reports.

“We could be looking at a real train wreck after Feb. 15,” Stan Dorn, a health policy expert at the nonpartisan Urban Institute, told AP. “People will file their tax returns and learn they are subject to a much larger penalty for 2015, and they can do absolutely nothing to avoid that.”

Alonso-Zaldivar suggests one reason people don't know about the penalties could be because they are the "most unpopular part of the health care law" and supporters have "played down the penalties in their sign-up campaigns" to avoid "political backlash."

If you are interested in estimating your potential fine or seeing if you qualify for an exemption, Alonso-Zaldivar suggest going online and using the Tax Policy Center’s Affordable Care Act penalty calculator or using a free online tool called “Exemption Check" created by TurboTax.

While many, like Dayson, find paying for health insurance "doesn't fit into the budget," one way to save money when choosing a plan is to make sure you choose a plan with the best deductible option for your family, Michelle Andrews reports for Kaiser Health News.

Typical plans have a single out-of-pocket deductible that must be met for the entire family before insurance will start paying. But some plans offer both a total family deductible and a separate deductible for each family member. For example, a $3,000 deductible family plan might have separate $1,000 deductibles for each family member, Andrews reports.

This type of plan is a good option if one family member requires more medical care than the others over the course of the year, Sabrina Corlette, project director at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms, told Andrews.

This plan allows the insurance company to start paying for all of this one family member's medical bills after their embedded-individual-deductible is met, even if the family has not reached its total out-of pocket payment, Andrews writes.

You might have to call the plan directly to see if it offers this type of deductible, Corlette said.