Andy Marso
Reporter
Andy Marso, Writer/Editor, is a journalist for the KHI News Service.
Stories by Andy Marso
Voters in Salina, Kansas vote to keep fluoride in water
Salina voters rejected an effort to remove fluoride from their drinking water Tuesday by a 2-to-1 margin, halting a growing anti-fluoride movement. The city’s dentists and doctors led the charge, and unofficial results showed 6,392 Salinans voting against the measure to remove fluoride and only 3,091 voting in favor. “We are very excited to see…
Could this election swing control of Kansas House to center?
Rep. Jim Ward is a Wichita Democrat whose party loyalty has rarely been questioned, but even he says his party is likely to pick up only a few House seats in next week's election. But he said a few Democratic victories coupled with a few more by Republican moderates might be enough to swing the...
On-time vaccination rate for Kansas kids tumbles
TOPEKA — The percentage of Kansas students entering kindergarten in 2012 who had been immunized on the medically recommended schedule tumbled to 61 percent from about 72 percent the previous year. The drop, highlighted in KIDS COUNT data released Tuesday by Topeka nonprofit Kansas Action for Children, puts on-time immunization rates at their lowest in at least five…
Measles, pertussis vex Kansas health workers as Ebola steals headlines
[row class=”row-fluid”][col class=”span12″] TOPEKA – Even as local health officials prepare for the unlikely event of an Ebola outbreak in Kansas, some have had their hands full trying to convince people in their communities to take basic measures to contain the spread of more prevalent, contagious and preventable diseases like measles and pertussis. Kansas has…
Kansas lawmakers lead fight to delay physician supervision rules
U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins and U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran are leading a congressional effort to delay enforcement of Medicare regulations requiring physician supervision of outpatient treatments like chemotherapy and intravenous infusions. The rules are intended to improve patient safety. But Jenkins, Moran and several advocacy groups, including the Kansas Hospital Association, say they would burden…
Medical PACs concentrate spending on incumbents
Political action committees for medically related groups in Kansas tended to throw their money behind incumbent House members before this year’s primary — even if those members did not support all of the groups’ political initiatives. Fifteen medically related PACs raised about $253,000 and spent about $125,000 this year in the reporting period that ended…
Doctor running for lieutenant governor swears by ‘direct primary care’ model
Wichita physician Josh Umbehr has never understood the traditional model of health care reimbursement — the one in which doctors and hospitals fill out pages of forms to bill a patient’s insurance company for everything from a $3 test to a $30,000 surgery. “You don’t have car insurance for gasoline,” Umbehr said in a recent phone interview. “Why would…