Will Kansans support lowering the sales tax on ‘healthy’ food?

By | January 12, 2015 |

A Kansas City-based nonprofit organization says a recent poll shows widespread support for exempting some foods from the Kansas sales tax.

Ashley Jones-Wisner, state policy manager for KC Healthy Kids, says the survey conducted for the Kansas Health Foundation showed that 86.6 percent of Kansans supported exempting fruits and vegetables from the state sales tax.

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‘Fed Up’ asks: Who’s to blame for obesity?

By | December 29, 2014 |

Just who’s to blame for the childhood obesity epidemic? Over the years, the finger has been pointed at parents, video games and vending machines, to name a few. To the makers of the new activist documentary, “Fed Up,” the bottom line of blame lies with a simple substance poured into our diets every day: sugar. And the pushers of what this film calls a drug and “the new tobacco” are the food industry and our own government.

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Doctor running for lieutenant governor swears by ‘direct primary care’ model

By | September 10, 2014 |
Kevin Brown Josh Umbehr has operated a direct medical care practice in Wichita since 2010. Rather than bill insurance companies for his services, he charges a monthly membership fee of $10 for kids and $50 for adults for unlimited visits, texts, phone calls, discounted prescription medications and in-office services.

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…

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Nurses’ push for independence from doctors stalls in KS Legislature

By | April 2, 2014 |
Lobbyist in KS state capitol

By Jim McLean – KHI News Service The ways of the Kansas Legislature are a frustrating mystery to Merilyn Douglas. The advanced practice registered nurse from Garden City is part of a group that is pushing for passage of a bill that would allow APRNs to practice independently from physicians. But that push has stalled.…

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