Christian Co. Health Dept. to stop providing cancer screens, contraceptives to residents of other counties

As of Jan. 1, the Christian County Health Department will not provide contraceptives or cancer screening to indigent patients if they do not reside in the county. Nick Tabor of the Kentucky New Era reports the department will provide those services to other counties' residents if the county in which they reside has signed a contract with Christian County before the Jan. 1 deadline agreeing to repay Christian County for those services. Tabor writes that the policy is not applicable to those services that are covered by state or federal government reimbursements.

The health department's move was prompted by a budget deficit that is close to $200,000, some of it traceable to a lack of reimbursement for contraceptive care. Mark Pyle, director of the department, told Tabor that residents of both Todd and Trigg counties often seek services in Christian County and Christian county taxpayers foot that bill. Pyle explained that there’s nothing in state law saying the health departments have to serve anyone who comes in, regardless of residence.

The New Era is behind a paywall. To obtain a subscription, go here.

Studies show that preteen girls who get the HPV vaccination are not more inclined toward promiscuity than those who don't

An electron micrograph of the
human papilloma virus.
(National Cancer Institute photo)

 

The most recent study of preteen girls who received the vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV) found that they were no more likely than unvaccinated girls to get pregnant, develop sexually transmitted infections or seek birth-control counseling. The findings in Monday's issue of Pediatrics are in line with recent studies on British teens, which also dismissed concerns that getting the vaccination might encourage promiscuity.  USA Today reporter Michael Healy writes that while the latest results were based on parental or self-reporting, the reports were corroborated by medical tests, clinical markers of sexual activity and other behavior markers.

Robert Bednarczyk, a clinical investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research-Southeast and an epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta., queried 1,398 girls, aged 11 and 12, and analyzed their medical records. He and colleagues divided the girls into two groups and followed them for three years. "One group of 493 girls received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, along with other recommended vaccines for tetanus and meningitis. A comparison group of 905 girls received the tetanus and meningitis vaccines, but not HPV," Healy writes. "There was a very similar rate of testing, diagnosis and counseling between both groups," with no increase in pregnancies, STIs or birth-control counseling, Bednarczyk reported. Fewer than 1 percent of all girls tested positively for a sexually transmitted infection, and fewer than 1 percent had a positive pregnancy test.  (Read more)

Kentucky Parent Survey: We could do a lot better on school meals, we're very much in favor of more health education

Fewer than 10 percent of Kentucky
parents report that their child has ever
walked or biked to school.

When asked, only about one in four Kentucky parents describe the meals served at their child's schools or day care centers as being nutritious. Fewer than 10 percent report that their child have ever walked or biked to school. And an overwhelming majority want information about sexually transmitted infections, human anatomy, abstinence education, birth control methods and condom use taught in Kentucky's high schools.

These are just a few of the surprising results from the first Kentucky Parent Survey conducted by the Foundation for a Health Kentucky, a random telephone survey of 1,006 parents of children under 18. The survey assessed the views of parents, step-parents, grandparents, foster parents and other legal guardians of children in Kentucky. The term "school" was used broadly in the survey as included (2 percent of total surveyed), as well those in pre-school and day care. The study took on nutrition, physical activity and health education.

Eighty-eight percent of parents reported that it was "very important" that meals at schools meet a minimum standard for nutritional value. Only about 1 in 4 parents currently thought their schools were meeting that standard. Only 11 percent are concerned that their younger children are getting too many "celebration-related" treats at their school.

While parents in the state reported that a little more than half (52 percent) of school-age children took physical education classes, that class was not a daily occurrence but met between one and four times a week. Only about 1 in 3 students took a daily course in P.E. That leaves 14 percent without a planned daily class during the school year.

On the topic of health education, parents reported that half of school-age children in the state took health classes, but again not daily. According to the FHK, "The Kentucky Parent Survey included a series of questions about dating relationships and sexual health to determine support for covering those topics...
At the middle school level, more than 8 in 10 parents would favor teaching communication skills (99 percent), human anatomy (91 percent), abstinence education (85 percent), and information about HIV and sexually transmitted infections (84 percent). At the high school level, more than 8 in 10 would favor teaching communication skills (99 percent), information about HIV and sexually transmitted infections (97 percent), human anatomy (97 percent), abstinence education (94 percent), birth control methods (87 percent), and condom use (84 percent)."

Future reports in the FHV series will address access to safe and effective health care for children, children's health behaviors and family routines and the places where parents turn for information on raising healthy kids.

Next phase of health reform: New and renewed insurance policies will have to cover birth control, other preventive care for women

Even though the decision was widely expected, as part of health care reform, the news is still what Julie Rovner of National Public Radio termed "a pretty big deal." Earlier this week, she reports, the Department of Health and Human Services adopted in full the women's health recommendations issued two weeks ago by the independent Institute of Medicine. "Since birth control is the most common drug prescribed to women ages 18-44, insurance plans should cover it," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a press briefing. "Not doing it would be like not covering flu shots, or any of the other basic preventive services that millions of other Americans count on every day."

The upshot: Starting a year from now, most new health insurance policies, and eventually almost every policy, will have to offer a comprehensive list of women's preventive health services with no co-pay or deductible, including all forms of prescription contraception approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These services include: Screening for gestational diabetes; counseling about sexually-transmitted infections; support for breast-feeding, including supplies and counseling; and domestic violence screening and counseling.

Rovner reports that "The new rules do take into account the complaints from some conservative and religious groups, by allowing religious organizations that provide health insurance to refrain from offering contraceptive coverage 'if that is inconsistent with their tenets.' HHS says that part of its proposal is modeled on the most common exemption used by the 28 states that already require contraceptive coverage to be offered in health insurance policies. The department, however, is specifically asking the public to comment on that portion of the rules, 'as we work to strike the balance between providing access to proven prevention and respecting religious beliefs.' Already the reactions are pouring in. Some people object to the religious exemption." (Read more)

As U.S. teen birthrate reaches 70-year low, Ky. still 7th highest

The teenage birth rate nationwide is the lowest in nearly 70 years, but Kentucky's rate is much higher than the national average — 46.2 births per 1,000 compared to 34.3 across the U.S.

That ranks it seventh highest in the nation, but the figure is down from 53.1 per 1,000 in 2007. Nationwide, the number is down from 61.8 per 1,000 in 1991. "Young people are being more careful," Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told Sharon Jayson of USA Today.

In 2010, a total of 367,752 infants were born to mothers ages 15 to 19. Mississippi had the highest rate, with 55 teen births per 1,000 and New Hampshire had the lowest with 15.7, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Girls who are having sex for the first time are much more likely to use contraception than their predecessors, notes Laura Lindberg, a senior research associate with the non-profit Guttmacher Institute in New York. She credited the lower teen-birth rate to "the elimination of pelvic exams before receiving prescriptions for hormonal methods, as well as use of long-acting methods such as IUDs." (Read more)

Will birth-control mandate cost more or less? Yet to be seen

Will requiring insurance companies to provide contraception be cost-neutral, as the Obama administration claims? It is unclear, and so is whether insurance companies will make Catholic institutions pay more. These were the findings of FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, consumer-advocate project funded by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

In support of its claim, the administration cites data from Hawaii's birth-control mandate, which shows health insurance premiums "did not appear" to increase. The study also found the number of pregnancies increased after contraception coverage was required.

But when Pennsylvania considered imposing a similar mandate, a state agency found "the amount of possible savings relative to the cost of the legislation is unclear." Findings were also unclear in Connecticut when officials there looked at whether or not insurance plans saved enough because there were fewer pregnancies to offset the cost of providing coverage. A Texas study found insurance companies would not save enough because women would buy contraception on their own.

A recent survey of 15 insurance companies found six thought costs would increase and another three felt the move would be neutral in cost. None felt they would save money because of the mandate.

"Until better data are available, we're unable to conclude whether the Obama birth-control mandate is likely to result in a net cost increase or not," FactCheck reports.

Obama changes health-insurance rule to placate religious groups that oppose birth control

In an effort to quell a firestorm of controversy, President Obama announced today that his administration change its new rule that requires employers to offer free birth-control coverage in their health insurance plans. The rule has outraged some Roman Catholic leaders, whose tenets prohibit artificial contraception. (Associated Press photo by Susan Walsh)

Today's change essentially requires insurers, rather than religious employers, to cover the cost of coverage for contraception. "Any employer who has a religious objection to providing contraception will not have to provide that service to employees, but in those cases the insurer will be required to reach out directly to the employee and offer contraceptive care free of charge," report Christi Parsons and Kathleen Hennessey of the Los Angeles Times.

Yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined several other speakers in lambasting the original version of the rule, calling it "an assault on religious liberty," reports James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal.

Obama's adjustment did not appear to placate most critics, but Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, said, "The framework developed has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed." (Read more)