Health care questions? Help is avalable

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MASON CITY | North Iowans are signing up for health insurance coverage as required under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, and help is available for those still needing to do so.

"The number of patients wanting to sign up has increased tremendously since Jan. 1," said Katie Roderick, financial counselor at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa.

She assists patients with starting the initial enrollment process for health insurance coverage within the Health Insurance Marketplace, answers questions and provides follow-up assistance as needed.

Patients who have enrolled for insurance include all ages and circumstances, from single parents to young single adults with no children, Roderick said.

CoOpportunity Health, a new nonprofit insurance cooperative that offers insurance coverage in Iowa and Nebraska, is the insurance company affiliated with Mercy-North Iowa. It reported enrollment of more than 35,000 members as of Jan. 1, 2014, far surpassing its first-year goal of 12,000 members.

MEMBERSHIP WAS SPLIT nearly evenly among people under 30, 30- to 49-year-olds and people between the ages of 50 and 64.

Another insurance option for some people is the new Iowa Health and Wellness Plan. Part of the Medicaid Extension Program, it is for people who meet income guidelines but are not eligible for Medicaid.

The Health and Wellness Plan replaces IowaCare, which was discontinued at the end of 2013.

Alice Ciavarelli, Community Care coordinator with Mercy's Population Health Department, said patients who qualified for IowaCare should automatically have been enrolled in the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan.

"The Iowa Health and Wellness Plan is going to be a very good program for patients that qualify," she said. "We encourage people to sign up for it."

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Health care questions? Help is avalable

Health care’s impact on hiring decisions in 2014 and beyond

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For almost six years, health care has been one of the most highly debated topics among politicians, the news media and the general public. Even after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ACA, was signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, the debate raged on as some people trumpeted its positives, some highlighted its negatives, and many felt uncertain of its real impact. Employers, especially those with small businesses, generally fell into the uncertain category as they waited to see the ACA's effects.

Now that we've entered 2014 and seen many of the act's elements implemented, there's still a general feeling of confusion among small businesses that make up more than 99 percent of U.S. employers. However, one thing is clear: health care reform is impacting how small businesses think about and approach hiring. A study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Harris Interactive found that 71 percent of the small business executives surveyed said the ACA would make them less likely to hire employees.

Staff size matters

The primary reason for this is that many parts of the health care law are tied to the number of employees a company has. The most common breakdowns, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, are 1-24 employees, 25-49 employees, and 50-plus employees. Of all the aspects of health care reform that are linked to staff size, small business owners need to be especially aware of two specific areas.

Employee health coverage

Employers who have 49 or fewer full-time employees are not required to offer health insurance. However, those who do want to offer their staff health coverage can do so through the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP. Currently, the SHOP Marketplace is only available for businesses with 1-49 employees, but in 2016 it will be opened to companies with up to 100 employees.

Due to some program difficulties, the federally run SHOP exchange, which was slated to have already opened, has been delayed a year. According to the Huffington Post, small businesses that planned to acquire their insurance through the marketplace can instead sign up through an insurance broker or health insurance company. And while small business employees were originally going to be able to choose from any plan available on the exchange, for 2014, the employer will have to select the coverage for everyone.

Beginning in 2014, there are two additional changes to employer-provided health coverage that were highlighted on Healthcare.gov's small business page. Insurance companies can no longer deny your business coverage due to the health status or pre-existing conditions of any of your employees or their dependents. They also cannot raise premiums for employees with higher-than-average medical costs or those who are women. These two new rules do not apply, however, to grandfathered plans.

Health care tax credit

Employers who fall below the 25-employee mark, with employees making an average of $50,000 a year or less, and provide health insurance to their staff, may be eligible for a small business health care tax credit. Beginning this year, small businesses could be reimbursed for as much as 50 percent of their contributions toward employee premiums. The health coverage must be through the SHOP Marketplace, but there are salary restrictions. Because of the delay of the SHOP exchange, businesses that want to apply for the credit can submit their application when they file their taxes for 2014.

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Health care's impact on hiring decisions in 2014 and beyond

Health care providers partner to provide mental health care

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Story by ElenaWatts

Originally published January 25, 2014 at 10:12 P.M., updated January 26, 2014 at 12:45 A.M.

A conversation between two Crossroads leaders seated next to each other at a meeting about Medicaid has sparked a partnership that is expected to benefit the community.

Gulf Bend Center and Citizens Medical Center have joined forces to streamline the delivery of health care services with a system that benefits patients, health care providers and taxpayers.

"The most important part of the association between Gulf Bend and Citizens is to set up the foundation for a model of integrated health care with a wholistic view of the needs of the patients," said Dr. Nestor Praderio, geriatric psychiatrist and owner of Psychiatric Consulting Service in Aransas Pass.

Praderio oversees inpatient psychiatric units in Aransas Pass and Corpus Christi and treats patients with mental health issues in the Crossroads by televideo.

At the Medicaid meeting, David Way, associate executive director of Gulf Bend Center, shared his ideas about integrative health care with Stephen Thames, hospital administrator for Citizens Medical Center, to secure a letter of support for his proposal.

Thames offered more than his endorsement. He offered hospital space and medical professionals.

The $1.2 million project, funded by a Texas Department of State Health Services grant and an in-kind match from Citizens Medical Center, began in January.

Citizens Medical Center provides space on the sixth floor of the hospital for the six-person outpatient extended observation unit as well as a nursing staff.

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Man who developed first vaccine for hepatitis B leaves £30million to charity

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25 Jan 2014 00:01

PROFESSOR Sir Ken Murray, one of the first researchers in genetic engineering, saved many lives worldwide.

PRESSTEAM

A SCIENTIST who developed the first vaccine for hepatitis B has left 30million to the charity he founded in Edinburgh.

Professor Sir Ken Murrays groundbreaking work was credited with saving lives worldwide.

The 82-year-old, who worked at Edinburgh University for more than 30 years and was one of the first researchers in genetic engineering, died at home in the city last April.

His will reveals his estate was worth 45million with his fortune built on royalties from the vaccine.

The main beneficiaries are the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh, founded by Sir Ken in 1983.

They will receive 30million to support the education of young scientists and fund research and facilities at Edinburgh University.

Trust chairman Dr John Tooze, 75, said: Ken was an extraordinary man who remained very modest despite the huge royalties that his hepatitis B vaccine brought him.

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Man who developed first vaccine for hepatitis B leaves £30million to charity

Freedom tanks not unregulated, as Tomblin said

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This photo shows the boom deployed to control the Crude MCHM chemical leak from the Freedom Industries tank farm into the Elk River. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency photo)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Last Monday, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin stood behind a podium in the West Virginia Capitol and announced his plan for a new program to prevent chemical spills from what he called "unregulated" above-ground storage tanks.

Tomblin said his proposal would give the state Department of Environmental Protection "the tools necessary" to prevent another chemical leak like the one from the Freedom Industries tank farm, which contaminated the Elk River and the drinking water supply for 300,000 West Virginians.

"It was not regulated, and this bill will address that," the governor said later to a small group of reporters.

When asked how he could call the Freedom Industries tank farm -- which held a water-pollution permit approved by the DEP -- "unregulated," the governor had agency Secretary Randy Huffman explain. Huffman carefully clarified what the governor had said.

"Unregulated is probably not the right word," Huffman said. "It was under-regulated."

Policymakers are beginning to respond to the leak of the chemical Crude MCHM into the Elk River, just upstream from the West Virginia American Water regional intake.

Some confusion continues, though, about exactly what authority the DEP had over the facility. A front-page New York Times story, for example, paraphrased Huffman as saying that, "because the facility stored chemicals, but did not produce them, his department had no responsibility for regulating it."

However, in several interviews with the Sunday Gazette-Mail, Huffman and other DEP officials have made it clear -- as Huffman did in his appearance with the governor -- that Freedom Industries was absolutely not unregulated.

"I don't think of them as being unregulated, but as being under-regulated," Huffman said in one discussion.

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Freedom tanks not unregulated, as Tomblin said

On being free – Desi Anwar

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January 26, 2014

Freedom Houses Freedom in the World 2014 report, which classifies a country as free, partly free and not free based on both political rights and civil liberties, lowered Indonesias status from free to partly free.

The reason for this drop of status is due to a new law restricting the activities of nongovernmental organisations.

I would add, we are partly free because we have no idea what to do with the freedom that we have.

The inability of the state to follow the Pancasila ideology is whittling at the countrys democracy and freedom, not to mention the countrys foundation.

Being the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, we pride ourselves of our brand of Islam, which is moderate.

In reality, we already have Syariah in Aceh, while more and more local governments around the country are leaning towards laws and regulations favouring the religion of the majority rather than respecting equally all the other religions as stipulated in the Pancasila ideology.

Indonesia willingly makes herself less free when she allows herself to be highjacked by a majority of people who see their fellow countrymen as less equal before the law if they are deemed not equal before the eyes of God.

Moreover, although we have achieved democracy, in that we have an elected and democratic government, there is a consensus that Indonesia, as a country, is still not free.

The word for freedom is merdeka which contains within it the spirit to fight against injustice and oppression, initially against colonial rule.

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DEP order: Dismantle Freedom tank farm

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Freedom Industries tank farm responsible for the Elk River chemical contamination is going to be shut down and dismantled, according to an order from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection that was announced Saturday by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Freedom Industries tank farm responsible for the Elk River chemical contamination is going to be shut down and dismantled, according to an order from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection that was announced Saturday by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.

All chemicals must be removed from the facility by March 15.

Freedom must begin the process of dismantling, removing and disposing of all of its above-ground tanks and all associated piping and machinery by that same day, according to the order.

All 17 tanks at the Freedom facility are in inadequate secondary-containment areas, according to a news release from Tomblin's office that was issued with the order. Fourteen of those tanks still have chemicals in them.

The release says that those chemicals include calcium chloride and glycerin, both of which are common additives to household products. DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said three smaller tanks contain a semi-solid substance that is "like fatty acids." Huffman said none of the tanks contain any harmful or hazardous substances.

"During the dismantling of the tanks, Freedom Industries is ordered to install measures that ensure that secondary containment is adequate to contain any potential spills resulting from the work," the release states.

Huffman said workers from the company and the DEP are digging cutoff trenches and taking other remediation efforts to protect the river, should there be another leak before the chemicals can be moved. He also said just having people on the site is a help.

The release states that Tomblin ordered the dismantling of the tank farm, although his signature does not appear on the order. It is a "consent order," meaning the company agreed to the terms. That also means the company cannot appeal the order.

The release states that Tomblin and Huffman began discussing the option of dismantling the tanks on Jan. 10, the day after the leak was discovered.

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DEP order: Dismantle Freedom tank farm

Peter Greste declares battle for freedom of speech in Egypt after prolonged detention

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Peter Greste. Photo: ABC/Twitter: @PeterGreste

Detained Australian journalist Peter Greste has released a letter vowing to fight for freedom of speech in Egypt after being jailed for reporting on unrest in the country.

The award-winning Al Jazeera reporter was arrested in Cairo on December 29 along with colleagues Mohamed Adel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed.

The trio had been reporting on the political turmoil in Egypt when they were accused of holding illegal meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB).

Egypt's military-installed leaders declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation in December, and had previously accused Al Jazeera of pro-Brotherhood coverage.

The Al Jazeera network, however, has emphatically defended its staff's actions, saying they were doing their job by reporting objectively.

Greste, who is being held in Cairo's Tora prison, says Egyptian authorities are cracking down on anyone "who refuses to applaud the institution".

Greste says he had originally planned to fight for his freedom "quietly", in part not to risk the precious little recreational time he was given.

However, he now says acquiescence on his behalf would validate the Egyptian authorities' "attack" on freedom of speech.

"I have sought, until now, to fight my imprisonment quietly from within, to make the authorities understand that this is all a terrible mistake - that I've been caught in the middle of a political struggle that is not my own," Greste writes in the letter, which has been authenticated by his parents.

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Peter Greste declares battle for freedom of speech in Egypt after prolonged detention