Liberty Union High School District will better prepare for difficult graduation weather

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BRENTWOOD -- Liberty Union High School District officials have agreed that they'll be better prepared for troublesome weather during future graduation ceremonies.

The informal discussion at this week's board meeting was prompted by soaring temperatures earlier this month that overcame 25 people attending Heritage and Freedom high schools' commencement exercises, a dozen of whom were taken by ambulance to local hospitals.

"We do need to pay a little more attention to the weather forecasts -- that's sort of the bottom line," Superintendent Eric Volta said.

Trustees didn't agree to make any specific changes at this point, however, because whatever measures they take will depend on what Mother Nature dishes out, he said.

Wind buffeted graduates at last year's ceremonies, Volta noted, sending mortarboards flying and prompting administrators to weigh down the stacks of diploma jackets onstage with water bottles.

The year before that it rained throughout the events, thoroughly soaking seniors (with the exception of one boy who wore a duck hunting outfit under his gown) and turning beaming faces into miserable-looking ones, Volta said.

Aware of the weather forecasts, district officials had considered postponing the ceremonies for a few hours in hopes that they could beat the rain, but decided against it because they feared a delay would interfere with students' family celebrations, he said.

Graduation dates are decided well

"There was no strong opinion that we should change the days," he said of trustees' comments at the board meeting.

What's more, if the district were to make the 9:30 a.m. start time of Heritage and Freedom high schools' commencements any earlier, participants then might complain about being cold, Volta said.

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Liberty Union High School District will better prepare for difficult graduation weather

READER SUBMITTED: Liberty Bank Announces Its Top Employees for 2013

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Liberty Bank recognized their top customer service employees at a special annual company celebration recently. In addition, employees with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 years of service were awarded. "Service is how Liberty Bank distinguishes itself from the rest of the industry," said Chandler J. Howard, Liberty Bank president and CEO. "These thirteen employees demonstrate exemplary service to their colleagues, our customers and through their volunteer work in the community. Their extraordinary actions over the last year made them real standouts."

Liberty Bank's President's Team members are elected annually based on written and verbal comments received throughout the year from customers and co-workers.

Noelle Willette "doesn't just field calls, she goes to bat for customers." She is a Liberty Bank Customer Service Consultant and lives with her family in Middletown.

Martha Delisle "goes all out to keep Business Lending at the top of its game." She is Liberty Bank's quality control analyst-Commercial, and lives in Cromwell with her husband Gerard and son Jimmy.

Shirley Theriault "constantly comes through in a pinch and makes a lasting impression with brokers and customers." She is Liberty Bank's vice president and underwriting manager, and lives in Cromwell.

Unsung Hero: Keri Thomson "is a high performer with vision who's always coming up with innovative ways of doing things." She is Liberty Bank's Retail Development Specialist and is a native of Waterford/Groton who lives in Middletown. About Liberty Bank

Established in 1825, Liberty Bank is Connecticut's oldest mutual bank, with more than $3.5 billion in assets and 44 banking offices throughout the central, eastern, and shoreline areas of the state. As a full-service financial institution, Liberty offers consumer and commercial banking, home mortgages, insurance, and investment services. Rated outstanding by federal regulators on its community reinvestment efforts, Liberty maintains a longstanding commitment to superior personal service and unparalleled community involvement.

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READER SUBMITTED: Liberty Bank Announces Its Top Employees for 2013

United Islands festival moves to Prague’s Ladronka on 10th birthday

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The three-day United Islands music festival, which gets underway in Prague on Thursday night, is being held this year for the 10th time. Performers will include visiting acts such as U.S. soul artist Aloe Blacc and Irish singer-songwriter Cathy Davey, as well as local outfits like Midi Lidi and the Plastic People of the Universe. However, the free event isnt actually taking place on an island this year. As final preparations were underway, I spoke to United Islands organizer David Gaydeka.

Please the Trees & Elpida, photo: Official website of Elpida Tonight we are starting with the traditional club night. Ten places, 10 clubs in Prague, will present the Czech contemporary scene. We have chosen bands that are new on the scene and are fresh, original and might be something really inspiring.

The first concert will start at the Nostick palace [Nostitz Palace], which is on Maltzsk nmst. Actually, its a Ministry of Culture building but theyve opened it for us. We start there with Please the Trees, a guitar band, playing with the Elpida vocal choir, and Never Sol, a new project.

And its all free?

Yes, the festival is all free. Access to all clubs and festival venues, including the open air part, is for free. No tickets, no limitations, you can take your dogs or kids and come and have a musical picnic.

In recent years, the festival has taken place on [the island] Steleck ostrov, near the National Theatre, but this year youve had to move it?

Yes. We already moved part of the festival in the autumn to the hills of Petn and to Kinskho zahrada [Kinsky Gardens], because we knew that Steleck ostrov was under reconstruction and it wasnt supposed to be done before our festival was supposed to start.

Ladronka, photo: Official website of Ladronka But actually after the floods the situation became so bad with all the parks I think today Kinskho zahrada is still closed to the public. We received information from the mayors office that the city wouldnt allow people into the parts of the park where we were supposed to hold the festival.

So we had to move it and we were very happy to hear that the city council of Prague 6 had welcomed us to Ladronka. They gave us all the permits we needed very quickly, so the festival will happen in Prague 6 at the park Ladronka, which is a beautiful, compact kind of place.

How many stages will you have at Ladronka?

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United Islands festival moves to Prague’s Ladronka on 10th birthday

Report: Slowdown in health care costs to continue

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WASHINGTON (AP) There's good news for most companies that provide health benefits for their employees: America's slowdown in medical costs may be turning into a trend, rather than a mere pause.

A report Tuesday from accounting and consulting giant PwC projects lower overall growth in medical costs for next year, even as the economy gains strength and millions of uninsured people receive coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law.

If the calculations are correct, cost spikes because of the new health care law should be contained within a relatively narrow market segment. That would come as a relief for Democrats in an election year during which Republicans plan to use criticism of "Obamacare" as one of their main political weapons.

"There are some underlying changes to the system that are having an impact, and we can expect lower increases as we come out of the recession," said Mike Thompson of PwC's Health Research Institute, which produced the study. Cost "is still going up, but not as much as it used to."

The report comes with a caveat that sounds counterintuitive at first: Self-employed people and others who buy coverage individually could well see an increase in premiums in 2014.

The reasons have to do with requirements in the health care law. For example, starting next year insurers must accept patients with pre-existing medical problems, who cost more to cover. Also, new policies have to provide a basic level of benefits more generous in some cases than what's currently offered to individual consumers.

About 160 million workers and family members now have job-based coverage and are less likely to be affected. The individual market is much smaller, fewer than 20 million people. Still, it's expected to grow significantly over the next few years as a result of the health care law, which will also provide tax credits to help many people afford their premiums.

The U.S. spends more than $2.7 trillion a year on health care, well above any other developed country. But quality is uneven, there's widespread waste and fraud, and the system still leaves about 45 million people uninsured.

For years U.S. health care spending has grown much faster than the overall economy and workers' wages, but since the recession those annual increases have slowed dramatically. The debate now is whether that's a continuing trend. The answer will be vitally important, not only for companies and their employees, but for taxpayers who foot the bill for government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Obama's coverage expansion.

PwC's report forecasts that direct medical care costs will increase by 6.5 percent next year, one percentage point lower than its previous projection. The cost of care is the biggest component of premiums, followed by administrative expenses and overhead.

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Report: Slowdown in health care costs to continue

Five key points in understanding the health care overhaul

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The Daily Dose prescribes an enriched mix of news, features, consumer issues and in-depth followups to The Denver Post's coverage of medicine and health care.

Still a little hazy about the health care overhaul? You have plenty of company. About half the people surveyed earlier this spring by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation felt they didn't have enough information to understand how the law will affect their family. Among those with an annual household income of less than $30,000, about 30 percent thought the law had been repealed by Congress or the Supreme Court.

That's the low-income demographic the law is designed to help the most as it extends insurance coverage to millions of uninsured people.

With those results in mind, here are five key points everyone should know about the overhaul, heading into this fall and 2014, when major changes start to unfold.

1. THE LAW IS IN EFFECT

Congress passed President Barack Obama's health care law in March 2010, and the overhaul has since survived 37 attempts by Republicans in the House of Representatives to eliminate, defund or partly scale it back.

The law, known as the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, also survived a more substantial test last year when the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality. However, the court's ruling gave states the right to decide whether to expand Medicaid, the state and federally funded program that covers the needy and disabled people. Medicaid plays a key role in the ACA's plan to provide insurance coverage to more Americans.

2. YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO HAVE COVERAGE

The overhaul mandates that, starting next year, most U.S. citizens and legal residents obtain coverage or pay a penalty. Some exemptions have been carved out for groups that include Indian tribe members, prisoners and individuals who belong to health care sharing ministries.

The annual penalty starts at $95 per adult, or 1 percent of family income whichever is greater and then rises over the next few years.

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Five key points in understanding the health care overhaul

Free health care clinic in San Bernardino draws thousands

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Dentist David Tefu Kuo performs a tooth extraction on Kevin Perry, 42, of Adelanto. (Gabriel Luis Acosta/Staff Photographer)

That's what brought him to the National Orange Show Events Center at 4:30 a.m. Saturday for the Care 4 a Health IE clinic.

"Tomorrow, I will be here at 4 a.m.," he said.

Officials with Molina Healthcare say about 4,000 people will receive free medical, dental, vision and other services during the three-day event, which ends today. That's an increase of 1,500 from the 2012 event, said Dr. Martha Molina Bernadette, daughter of Molina Healthcare's founder, the late Dr. C. David Molina.

"I know (my father) would be so proud of this event today, because access is what it's all about," Molina Bernadette said.

The patients came amid a changing health-care landscape -- one with a shortfall of primary care physicians despite the rising number of people who will have access to health care under the Affordable Health Care Act for America.

But, Molina Bernadette says, that's an issue that medical professionals anticipated long before the legislation was introduced. The issue is more evident now because the need has increased dramatically.

a"The country has not produced enough primary care physicians for decades," she said.

She says with the new laws in place, existing doctors will have to adapt to the influx until hospitals can hire more.

"The shortage may create the need for them to work more and longer hours and more days in order to meet that need," Molina Bernadette said.

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Free health care clinic in San Bernardino draws thousands

Health care act: 5 things to know

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Still a little hazy about the health- care overhaul? You have plenty of company.

About half the people surveyed earlier this spring by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation thought they didnt have enough information to understand how the law will affect their family.

Among those with an annual household income of less than $30,000, about 30 percent thought the law had been repealed by Congress or the Supreme Court. Thats the low-income demographic the law is designed to help the most as it extends insurance coverage to millions of uninsured people.

Five key points everyone should know about the overhaul, heading into the fall and 2014, when major changes start to unfold:

1. The law is in effect. Congress enacted President Barack Obamas health-care law in March 2010, and the overhaul has since survived 37 attempts by Republicans in the House of Representatives to eliminate, defund or partly scale it back.

The law, the Affordable Care Act, also survived a more substantial test last year when the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality. The courts ruling, however, gave states the right to decide whether to expand Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program that covers the needy and disabled people. Medicaid plays a key role in the ACAs plan to provide insurance coverage to more Americans.

2. You will be required to have coverage. The overhaul mandates that, starting next year, most U.S. citizens and legal residents obtain coverage or pay a penalty. Some exemptions have been carved out for groups that include Indian tribe members, prisoners and individuals who belong to health care- sharing ministries.

The annual penalty starts at $95 per adult, or 1 percent of family income whichever is greater and then rises over the next few years.

3. Major milestones are looming. Next year, the ACA will take two major steps toward its goal of providing more individuals with insurance coverage.

Medicaid coverage will be expanded in states that allow it, and many people will be able to buy coverage using income-based tax credits. These tax credits, or subsidies, are reserved for people who cant get health insurance through an employer and who dont qualify for Medicaid, Medicare or military-based coverage.

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Health care act: 5 things to know

New health care plan calls for 40,000 new doctors

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Related: Newly insured to deepen primary care doctor gap Database: Doctor shortage rankings by state | Map: Physician shortages across the region

Dr. Reed Wilson operates his private practice in a city famous for its extravagance and nip/tuck reputation.

But despite his Beverly Hills, 90210 address and his proximity to specialists who use scalpels and Botox to break the spell of aging, Wilson and other primary care physicians from Los Angeles and beyond are fighting to preserve the heart of their profession. It is a challenge in today's health care landscape for primary care doctors, Wilson and other say.

They are traditionally the first in line to treat a patient and their numbers are declining.

"When we look out at our patients, we wonder who's going to care for them," said Wilson, president of the 200 member group Private Practice Doctors, which helps to support those who run their own business.

"Young people don't want to go into primary care," he said. "Our system rewards those for doing procedures, not thought process."

The nation needs at least 40,000 new primary care doctors in the next seven years to fill in what some say is an anticipated shortage of physicians

In California, 42 of the state's 58 counties have less than 60 to 80 primary care physicians per 100,000 population, according to a report released last year by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Of all active physicians in the state, 67 percent reported being non-primary care physicians.

About 25 percent of medical school graduates go into primary care, and most of those end up working for large health systems, Wilson and others say.

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New health care plan calls for 40,000 new doctors

Health care reform: Newly insured to deepen primary care doctor gap

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Getting face time with the family doctor could soon become even harder.

A shortage of primary care physicians in some parts of the country is expected to worsen as millions of newly insured Americans gain coverage under the federal health care law next year. Doctors could face a backlog, and patients could find it difficult to get quick appointments.

Attempts to address the provider gap have taken on increased urgency ahead of the law's full implementation Jan. 1, but many of the potential solutions face a backlash from influential groups or will take years to bear fruit.

Lobbying groups representing doctors have questioned the safety of some of the proposed changes, argued they would encourage less collaboration among health professionals and suggested they could create a two-tiered health system offering unequal treatment.

Bills seeking to expand the scope of practice of dentists, dental therapists, optometrists, psychologists, nurse practitioners and others have been killed or watered down in numerous states. Other states have proposed expanding student loan reimbursements, but money for doing so is tight.

Find out what doctors think will happen in the Hanover area

As fixes remain elusive, the shortfall of primary care physicians is expected to grow.

Nearly one in five Americans already lives in a region designated as having a shortage of primary care physicians, and the

The national shortfall can be attributed to a number of factors: The population has both aged and become more chronically ill, while doctors and clinicians have migrated to specialty fields such as dermatology or cardiology for higher pay and better hours.

The shortage is especially acute in impoverished inner cities and rural areas, where it already takes many months, years in some cases, to hire doctors, health professionals say.

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Health care reform: Newly insured to deepen primary care doctor gap