RENO COUNTY -Students in several Kansas school districts are out of school Tuesday due to the wild fires.
According to the school district social media accounts, USD 300 South Central Schools in Coldwater, USD 309 Nickerson, and USD 313 Buhler will not have school on Tuesday due to the fires near their communities the displacement of faculty, staff, and others.
Holy Cross Catholic School in Hutchinson also cancelled classes due to the fires, according to the school’s facebook page.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita, Kansas, man is accused of fatally shooting a 16-year-old boy in what police say was a case of unsafe handling of a firearm.
KSNW-TV reports that 42-year-old Fabian Griffin is charged with second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A Wichita police spokeswoman, Sgt. Nikki Woodrow, says Griffin, the victim and a 25-year-old man were in the house when the shooting happened late Friday.
Woodrow says there was no disturbance at the house before the shooting, but that “the incident involved the unsafe handling of a weapon.”
The victim’s name hasn’t been released.
Court records don’t show whether Griffin has an attorney.
WASHINGTON – First District Congressman Roger Marshall op-ed in Sunday’s Washington Times details a solution to affordable healthcare access for those with preexisting conditions.
Despite the national narrative, Dr. Marshall offers practical fixes to our healthcare system.
Having just left private practice as an OB/GYN, and fresh off the campaign trail, I have talked to thousands of people about healthcare issues. For more-than 25 years, the most common concern I’ve heard, and have tried to help solve, is from folks who have a preexisting health condition, and must get their health insurance outside of an employer. These folks are worried about losing the coverage they have, if they have any, and fear they won’t be able to replace it in the future.
As we in Congress work to deliver true 21st-century healthcare to the American people, I wanted to address the issue of coverage for folks with preexisting conditions; also called “guaranteed issue,” which ensures that all Americans have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. Many of us in Congress, and our President, have agreed we must ensure this coverage, and have accepted it as our challenge.
The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was passed in 2010 with hopes of addressing this very issue. Unfortunately, individual health insurance policies under Obamacare can have deductibles as high as $14,000 for a family. To many of us in the medical field, it seems that more people than ever do not have meaningful health insurance. Here we are in 2017 and although people technically have access to health insurance, many cannot afford to get care because of their premium, and out-of-pocket expenses. This cuts to the very heart and soul of the current debate on what true healthcare reform looks like.
What are value pools? Value pools are insurance programs set up to focus specifically on patients with pre-existing conditions. To most patients, their insurance plan would look very much like the insurance most of us were used to seeing before Obamacare. Some basic federal laws (or rules from HHS) would provide guidelines and minimum standards, but general design and administration must be at the state level.
Who would get their health insurance from a value pool? Though there are several ways to determine eligibility for these pools, we could start with having one of 33 diagnoses (as currently used by the innovative Alaska reinsurance program) and/or a letter of denial from one or more existing insurance carriers.
Why value pools? By putting folks with pre-existing conditions into a separate “like-risk” insurance group known as a value pool, they will be more likely to get the type of benefits and care they need. I believe these most-valued patients could especially benefit from a “concierge physician” who is dedicated to directing them through the confusing maze of health care. This concierge can bring each patient true value.
By separately structuring and funding value pools for patients with preexisting conditions, health insurance will be much more affordable for those without preexisting conditions. Those without preexisting conditions will once again buy from conventional commercial insurance markets. Costs will be more predictable, and we know insurance actuaries thrive on predictability.
How would value pools be funded? The patient would be responsible for paying a premium equal to the average cost of coverage in their respective commercial market. The remainder would be funded via state funds, fees assessed on private insurance carriers in the state, and federal funds.
Interestingly, 35 states have experience with similar pools. Prior to the coverage mandate, the average annual cost for the 226,000 patients enrolled in these high-risk pools was about $12,000 (Source: NASCHIP Comprehensive Health Insurance for High-Risk Individuals: A State-by-State Analysis). Also of note, the federal government is spending nearly $11,000 per-patient annually for Medicare patients (Source: CMS National Health Expenditure Data).
As we’ve listened to and visited with our state governors and state insurance commissioners, the most common themes they ask for are “flexibility and certainty.” It is Congress‘ job to give them just that.
As a business person, I look at this problem and ask how much money we, the hard-working taxpayers of this country (via the federal government) can afford to make these changes. The state will then dial the many alternatives up or down to keep within their budgets, and to spend the money as judiciously as possible.
As an example, around 12 million people are on an exchange policy now. With free market reforms and the deregulation of medicine, many (most likely over 90 percent) will move back to the free market. The total insurance premium for the remaining value group, which would be split between the patient, private insurance, the state and federal government, should be under $15,000 per year, and hopefully closer to $11-12,000 as time goes on. In this model, the deductible would be around $1000, and the plan would also include a tax credit for the premium.
Of course, these valued patients will also benefit from other free market reforms such as expanded HSAs, increased transparency, and policies that encourage innovation.
Finally, I propose a federally funded “reinsurance” program, much like many of us use in the private sector, to provide an umbrella for the state-based Value Pools.
It’s not complicated. In fact, it is simple. But it’s not easy.
Unlimited free healthcare is not, and won’t be an option. And it is dishonest and harmful to tell hard-working Americans otherwise.
There will be pains and there will be mistakes, but I believe we can keep working to ensure all Americans, regardless of their health challenges, have the opportunity to achieve this goal of quality, affordable healthcare.
• Roger Marshall, an obstetrician, is a Republican U.S. representative from Kansas. -Reprinted with permission of the Washington Times.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A second defendant in the ongoing civil lawsuit regarding a Douglas County Jail inmate’s death has settled.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports the confidential settlement offer by Dr. Dennis Sale was approved Thursday. Sale worked at the jail that Rachel Hammers died in.
Joe Harvey, Hammers’ father, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court in April 2015 seeking more than $1.3 million from the county. Harvey said his daughter’s death was needless, painful and preventable.
The cause of Hammers’ death remains in dispute.
Another defendant, the county Visiting Nurses Association, offered a confidential settlement to Harvey in late 2016. Sale and the association provided medical services to the jail until July 2016.
The association’s settlement was also approved Thursday.
Douglas County officials declined to comment on the lawsuit, but deny Harvey’s claims in court filings.
SUMNER COUNTY – An earthquake shook portions of Kansas Monday afternoon.
The quake just before 5:30p.m. measured 2.7 and was centered approximately 20 miles east of Caldwell in Sumner County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Just after 6 a.m Sunday, a 2.6 quake was centered approximately 17-miles northeast of Caldwell in Sumner County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In February, the agency recorded six Kansas earthquakes. They measured from 2.5-3.3.
A February 13 quake in Sumner County measured 3.3 and was centered in rural area just north of the Kansas-Oklahoma State line, according to the USGS.
There have no reports of damage or injury from Monday’s quake.
TOPEKA, KAN. – A former city clerk for the city of Bennington, Kan., was sentenced Monday to a total of 16 months in federal prison in two separate cases of interstate transportation of embezzled funds, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall. She also was ordered to pay $184,000 in restitution.
In the first case, Janetta Marie Buttery, 42, Bennington, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen funds. In her plea, Buttery said she served as city clerk from October 2014 to May 2016 and left the position before the city discovered the crime. In her position as clerk she had access to credit cards belonging to the city and the city’s Recreation Commission. She used the cards to make unauthorized payments totaling more than $75,000.
In the second case, Buttery pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of embezzled funds while she worked as secretary, bookkeeper and executive assistant to the owner of Realty Associates in Salina, Kan. She embezzled more than $79,000 in the company’s funds to make payments on personal debts belonging to herself and her family members.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An early snapshot of winter wheat fields in Kansas shows wide variations as the majority of the state remains warm and dry.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that 22 percent of the wheat crop in Kansas is in poor to very poor condition. About 35 percent is rated as fair with 43 percent in good to excellent condition.
Rain and hail were reported in only a few southeastern counties this past week. Elsewhere, high winds are raising concerns of wildfires.
Topsoil moisture is rated as short to very short across 62 percent of the state.
Livestock producers are now in the midst of their calving and lambing seasons. The agency is reporting calving progress as 42 percent, while lambing is 55 percent finished.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new court filing details the investigation into a Wichita doctor accused of over-prescribing pain medication, including that authorities say a man fatally overdosed on drugs he prescribed.
The Wichita Eagle reports that prosecutors filed the investigation report pertaining to 55-year-old Steven Henson last week. Henson has pleaded not guilty to 31 counts, including conspiring to distribute prescription drugs outside his medical practice and unlawfully distributing oxycodone, methadone and alprazolam.
According to the filing, a pharmacist filed a complaint about Henson and investigators found he was giving pain-medication prescriptions for $300 in cash at the time. Authorities also determined that Nicholas McGovern, who received multiple prescriptions from Henson, died in June 2015 of an overdose of alprazolam and methadone.
Henson’s medical license has been suspended. His attorney says the prescriptions weren’t illegal.
RENO COUNTY— Authorities say two grass fires have burned almost 6,000 acres in central Kansas but no injuries have been reported.
State officials say crews were using two helicopters Monday to dump water on the fires, which are 80 to 90 percent contained. The National Weather Service says dry, shifting winds, with gusts of up to 60 mph will complicate the firefight in Reno, Rice and McPherson counties.
The Jupiter Hills fire consumed about 1200 acres, and is 80 percent contained. It is estimated nearly 2700 acres have been burned in the Highlands area in Reno and Rice counties.
Deputy state emergency operations center manager Devan Tucking says the fires are 80 to 90 percent contained Monday after crews spent the weekend fighting them. The National Weather Service says the firefight in Reno, Rice and McPherson counties will be complicated by dry, shifting winds, with gusts of up to 60 mph.
Tucking says about 300 people were allowed to return to their homes after an area north of Hutchinson that included a golf course was threatened by a fire that burned about 4,800 acres.
There were a few homes in the Highlands area that suffered minor damage, and one home that had heavier damage and that family was displaced. There were three outbuildings destroyed in the Jupiter Hills fire, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.
Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a state of disaster emergency.
-The AP contributed to this report.
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RENO COUNTY –Two task forces monitored the fire in the Highlands area near Hutchinson overnight.
Just after 9 p.m., residents in the area were allowed to return to their homes, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.
Residents were advised to use a garden hose to put out any embers that come into yards and not call 911 every time a glow is spotted. If there is an open active flame currently threatening a structure, then call 911.
It is estimated 1200 acres have been burned in the other Reno County fire in Jupiter Hills Fire. It is 80 percent contained.
All roads, except 69th Avenue from Old K-61 to Mayfield and 56th Avenue from Old K-61 to the dead end have been opened.
The county has declared a state of emergency which will help bring in state resources to help.
Critical fire weather conditions will continue the next few days.
SALINE COUNTY – A Kansas man is recovering from injuries in a weekend accident in Salina.
Just after 2p.m. on Saturday, a 2016 Nissan Rogue driven by Lisa Hochman, 51, Florida, was eastbound on Iron Avenue in Salina, according to Police Sgt. James Feldman.
The driver failed to stop at a red light at Ohio Street and collided with a 2000 Harley-Davidson Road Glide motorcycle driven by John Pihl, 60, Salina. A Kia SUV then collided with the Nissan.
Phil was transported to a Salina Regional Medical Center and then transferred to a hospital in Wichita.
A private vehicle transported Hochman to Salina Regional Medical Center.
No other injuries were reported.
Pihl was wearing a helmet, according to police.
