The Rural Blog

A digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, by the Institute for Rural Journalism, based at the University of Kentucky. Links may expire, require subscription or go behind pay walls. Please send news and knowledge you think would be useful to benjy.hamm@uky.edu.

The Rural Blog

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Newly formed nonprofit can help with heath care copays, prescription payments and heath insurance denials

Understanding what pharmacy benefit managers are reveals flaws and solutions in U.S. drug pricing and selling system

Powerful pharmacy benefit managers are tasked with cutting costs, but their practices can undercut small pharmacies

Medicare will save billions from its first-ever drug price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies

Out-of-pocket prescription expenses can be painful -- here are some steps to control costs

As states receive more than $50 billion in opioid settlement money, companies are competing to get some of the funding

The overdose crisis isn't over, it's evolving

Newly released data reveals a 'virtual opioid belt' developed over about 15 years in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky

New, lifesaving antibiotics don't make it to patients. Researchers say a different business model is needed.

To combat drug makers' increases in the price of insulin, states look at making it themselves; California will be first

Over-the-counter Narcan on shelves next week; overdose reversal spray may cost too much for many who need it

Demon Copperhead author Barbara Kingsolver talks about the opioid epidemic and Appalachia's difficulty with it

Supreme Court freezes Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy plan

Some of the most common prescription drugs face extinction; 'repatriating' our drug supply' offers one solution

How much money are your local and state governments getting from opioid settlements? KFF Health News has it

Appeals court OKs plan that shields owners of Purdue Pharma from future lawsuits; they must give it up, donate

Over-the-counter Narcan will save lives by stopping drug overdoses. It'll be available this fall; price remains a hurdle.

Farmer who grew up dirt poor secretly paid for neighbors' prescriptions; he's gone, but legacy of giving is spreading

Officials, advocates push more rural health-care providers to prescribe Suboxone (buprenorphine) for drug addiction

CVS, Walgreens in tentative deal to pay state and local governments billions for opioid crisis; Walmart still in talks