Health

A Muhlenberg County health clinic will soon begin operating as part of the Owensboro Health network. Dr. Marshall Prunty founded Family Practices of Greenville, PSC, 29 years ago. Dr. Prunty says it has become too difficult for a small operation such as his to keep up with the paperwork and filings related to the Affordable Care Act, Hippa, and other regulations.

"It gets to the point where I probably almost need two or three people just to take care of the regulations. And in a small, independent office, you just don't really have the resources to do that,” Dr. Prunty told WKU Public Radio.

Dr. Prunty's office will begin operating as Owensboro Health Multicare Greenville on May 1st.

His office provides family medical care for children and adults, as well as on-site lab testing.

Dr. Prunty's office currently serves patients in Muhlenberg, McLean, Todd, and Ohio counties.

A new report shows fewer workers in Kentucky and Indiana are getting health insurance through their jobs. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says 59.5 percent of Kentuckians under the age of 65 received health insurance through their job or a family member’s job in 2011. That’s a drop of more than 9 percent from 2000.

In Indiana, 63 percent of those under 65 got health insurance through jobs in 2011, down nearly 15 percent from 2000.

Tennessee saw a 10 percent drop over that same time period.

Nationwide, the report found that 11.5 million fewer Americans get insurance through the workplace.

You can see the complete Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report here.

Tennessee is not exactly saying “yes” to expanding the state’s Medicaid program – known as TennCare. But it’s not saying “no” either.

Governor Bill Haslam made the announcement this morning to a joint assembly of the legislature, telling lawmakers he’s been working toward a “third option.”

“To leverage the federal dollars available to our state to transform health care in Tennessee without expanding our TennCare rolls," said the Republican Governor.

Haslam says he’d like to use the federal money to buy private health insurance for Tennesseans who have no other way to get it.