KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — One of four people killed in an attack at a crowded Israeli synagogue was a native of Kansas City, Missouri.

Fifty-year-old Rabbi Cary William Levine died when Palestinian attackers armed with meat cleavers and a gun burst into a synagogue in Jerusalem during prayers Tuesday morning.

A man who answered the door Tuesday afternoon at the Kansas City address listed for Levine’s parents said the family didn’t want to talk.

At least three people arrived at the home during a 15-minute period, including a woman who also declined to comment.

Levine attended Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park, Kansas, before leaving the area in his 20s for Israel.

The school said it was gathering information and planned a news conference later Tuesday.

NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — With terrorists beheading Americans, President Barack Obama has ordered a review of how the United States responds when citizens are taken hostage overseas.

The White House says over the summer, Obama ordered a “comprehensive review” of the tools to try to bring American hostages home.

The United States does not pay ransom, unlike many other governments. The administration’s position is that doing so would put more Americans at risk, and administration officials say that policy is not part of the review.

A letter from the Pentagon says it is focused on examining engagement with hostages’ families, intelligence collection and diplomatic efforts.

The letter was sent to Rep. Duncan Hunter after the California Republican raised concerns the U.S. is not exhausting its opportunities to protect and rescue hostages.

By Jim McLean
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — Sherry Calderwood wishes she could turn back the clock.

Last fall, she and her husband decided not to purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace because it cost too much.

The 45-year-old waitress, who banters with legislators and lobbyists at a popular Topeka breakfast spot just a few blocks from the Kansas Statehouse, had gotten by for years without coverage and thought her luck would hold.

It didn’t.

“I thought, ‘Oh well, I haven’t been sick all these years. I’ll be fine.’ And here I sit,” Calderwood said while taking a short break during a recent lunch rush.

Sapped of energy and bruised from head to toe, she recently went to the doctor and was given a preliminary diagnosis of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, an autoimmune disease that thins the blood and in extreme cases causes internal bleeding. Thousands of dollars in tests and hospital stays later, doctors still haven’t pinned down the reason for Calderwood’s condition.

Calderwood is worried about leukemia and other possible causes. And she’s worried about how she is going to pay the bills she’s already racked up.

“Yeah, I’m worried,” she said. “I’m worried about my house, my car payments, my family. Christmas is coming up.”
Before Obamacare, Calderwood’s diagnosis would have made it virtually impossible for her to get health insurance.
“She would have most likely been denied coverage,” said Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger. “The high-risk pool was there for folks like her, but the premiums were high. It probably would have been unaffordable.”

But that’s not the case anymore. The ACA says insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to people who already are sick.

“I do feel thankful for that,” Calderwood said. “I would have been sitting here with no insurance for the rest of my life.”

Obamacare has given Calderwood a second chance to get health insurance. A new ACA open enrollment period started Saturday, and she’s made an appointment this week with a navigator to select a plan.
Flat rates

Opponents of the reform law predicted that rates would increase sharply. But the average premium for all plans has increased just 0.1 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to an analysis by the Kansas Health Institute, the parent organization of the editorially independent KHI News Service.
Rates are based on the level of coverage — bronze, silver, gold or platinum — and an individual’s age, place of residence, family status and whether they smoke.

If catastrophic plans — which are available only to individuals under age 30 or those with special hardship exemptions — are excluded, the average premium actually decreased by 1.1 percent.

However, there are wide variations in cost. Premiums for some silver plans — the coverage level selected by most Kansans in 2014 — range from 11.6 percent more to 13 percent less in 2015, according to the KHI analysis.

Still, Praeger said, Kansans who purchased coverage during the first enrollment period should be able to avoid paying higher rates if they don’t re-enroll and instead go back to the online marketplace and evaluate their options.

“I think most Kansans will be able to find something that fits their needs that is either the same price or even a little lower,” Praeger said. “The important thing is that they need to go back and shop.”
Kansans with annual incomes between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for tax credits on a sliding scale. The credits are paid directly to insurance companies to reduce premiums, Praeger said.

“They (consumers) don’t have to wait until they file their tax returns,” she said. “They get the benefit of that tax credit up front.”

An individual making $12,000 a year and living just above the poverty line could buy a silver plan for about $200 a month but pay a monthly premium of only $20 after the tax credit is applied. A person making $25,000 a year would get a smaller tax credit and pay $142 a month for the same plan.

More choice

Kansans may choose from among 82 plans offered by five insurance companies in the 2015 marketplace, up from 72 in the previous enrollment period.

Trained “navigators,” many of whom work for nonprofit organizations, are available along with insurance agents to help consumers shop the marketplace and select a plan. Information about how to contact a navigator and a schedule of upcoming enrollment events is available at the InsureKs website operated by the Kansas Insurance Department.

A little more than 57,000 Kansans purchased insurance in the marketplace during the first enrollment period. That is about 19 percent of the 298,000 Kansans that KHI estimates are eligible to get coverage through the marketplace.

Well-documented problems with the marketplace website operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services depressed enrollment during the first sign-up period, Praeger said.

“I think potentially we’ll have more enrollees this year because we’re not going to have all the problems with the website crashing as it did last year and people getting frustrated and giving up,” she said.

The current open enrollment period extends through Feb. 15, 2014.

Jim McLean is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Officials in a northeastern Kansas county have made additional money available to help finance the prosecution of three capital murder cases.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports district attorney Chad Taylor told the Shawnee County Commission in a recent memo that prosecution of the capital cases was stretching his office’s resources.

He said the capital murder cases would require overtime work for his office’s support staff. He asked for the $150,000 in county contingency funds.

Commissions budgeted $500,000 for that purpose this year. The panel voted 3-0 to approve the Taylor’s request.

Taylor wasn’t at the commission’s Monday meeting. County financial administrator Betty Greiner appeared on his behalf. Greiner said Taylor was busy working on one of the capital murder cases.

JOAN LOWY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal safety board says the government has the power to hold drone operators accountable when they operate the remote-control aircraft recklessly.

The decision by the National Transportation Safety Board, which hears appeals of Federal Aviation Administration enforcement actions, is a setback to drone operators chafing under FAA restrictions.

The FAA had fined Raphael Pirker, an aerial photographer, $10,000 for operating his drone recklessly on the University of Virginia campus in 2011. An administrative law judge sided with Pirker earlier this year, saying the FAA couldn’t levy fines when it hasn’t issued any regulations for drones.

The agency appealed. The NTSB found that the drone is a type of aircraft that falls under existing rules, and sent the case back to the judge to decide if it was operated recklessly.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Findings from congressional investigators suggest Medicare patients aren’t being told enough of what they need to know and some of the weaknesses are deemed “critical.”

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says Medicare lacks clear procedures for getting useful information to consumers. Its investigation finds that federal government websites meant to give Medicare patients basic consumer tools instead fail to provide adequate information on out-of-pocket costs, and even quality of care.

The GAO report, obtained by The Associated Press before its public release, says a confusing layout, data gaps and lack of customized information make it virtually impossible for consumers to get the knowledge they need. The GAO says it won’t be fixed anytime soon, even as the federal government plans new websites on other forms of care.

The GAO says there’s a growing need for the information as health care costs rise.

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — Attorneys for Missouri inmate Leon Taylor have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution, citing several concerns that led to the death sentence for the convicted killer.

Taylor is scheduled to die early Wednesday for killing gas station attendant Robert Newton in Independence in 1994. Taylor would be the ninth man put to death in Missouri this year.

The appeal notes that Taylor’s original jury deadlocked and a judge sentenced him to death. When that was thrown out, an all-white jury gave Taylor, who is black, the death sentence.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that only a jury could impose a death sentence. Taylor’s lawyers argued in Tuesday’s appeal that the original jury did not.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Chinese company and the Dairy Farmers of America say they are planning a $100 million plant somewhere in Kansas but details are sketchy.

The Dairy Farmers of America, a cooperative owned by 13,000 dairy farmers based, is based in Kansas City. It is working with the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group. The two groups formed a partnership two years ago.

The Kansas City Star reports  the plant’s location was not disclosed but it is likely to be in western Kansas, where most of the state’s milk production occurs.

The plant would produce up to 88,000 tons of milk powder a year.

Rick Smith, president and CEO of Dairy Farmers of America, said Yili is a fitting partner because it is a leading Chinese dairy processor.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.), John McCain (Ariz.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Joe Manchin (W.V.) today introduced the bipartisan “Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act,” legislation that offers several critical measures that would improve mental health care and suicide prevention resources for American service members. To read the text of the bill, click here.

“An estimated 22 veterans commit suicide every day, a shocking and unacceptable reality,” said Blunt, McCain, Blumenthal, Burr, Murkowski, and Manchin. “We are proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation to improve and modernize the suicide prevention programs and resources available to our fighting men and women. When enacted, this bill will provide additional resources for veterans who suffer from mental health disorders that place them at higher risk of suicide. It will ensure that existing suicide prevention programs are reviewed to determine which ones work and get rid of those that don’t, improve collaboration between the Department of Veterans Affairs and Veterans Service Organizations, and provide incentives to attract more psychiatrists to treat veterans through the VA. Our nation has a long way to go to decrease the rate of suicide among our veterans and we must do much better in fulfilling our responsibilities to care for those who have risked everything on behalf of their fellow Americans.”

The bill would require a third-party evaluation of existing suicide prevention programs at the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to gauge their effectiveness and make recommendations for consolidation, elimination, or improvement. It would also provide for a new website that offers veterans information regarding available mental healthcare services; create a pilot loan repayment program for VA psychiatrists; and improve the exchange of training, best practices, and other resources among the VA, Veteran Service Organizations (VSO), and non-profit mental health organizations to enhance collaboration of suicide prevention efforts.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) also praised the introduction of The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act.

“IAVA thanks the Senate leaders for taking initiative on this vital issue for the veteran community,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of IAVA. “Combating veteran suicide has been a top priority for IAVA this year. When passed, this bill will ensure our veterans receive the top quality mental healthcare they deserve, most specifically by implementing evaluation programs to assess the success of mental health and suicide prevention programs at DoD and the VA. Reversing the suicide trend among veterans requires more than one helping hand. This bill empowers the VA to collaborate with VSOs and nonprofit mental health organizations to combat veteran suicide. We urge Congress to move quickly on this legislation and put their partisanship aside. Lives are on the line. IAVA expects to see the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act receive expedited consideration and unanimous support in the full Senate very soon.”

The bill was named for Clay Hunt, a Marine veteran who committed suicide in March 2011 at the age of 28. Clay enlisted in the Marine Corps in May 2005 and deployed to Anbar Province, near Fallujah, in January 2007. He was shot in the wrist by a sniper’s bullet that barely missed his head, earning him a Purple Heart. Clay recuperated at Twenty Nine Palms, Calif. and then graduated from Marine Corps Scout Sniper School in March 2008. He redeployed to southern Afghanistan a few weeks later. His unit returned in late October of 2008 and he was honorably discharged from the Marines in April 2009. After returning home, Clay suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for many years and struggled with inadequate care at his local VA hospital before taking his own life.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – The University of Missouri-Kansas City will offer a one-year MBA program with free tuition beginning next fall.

The program offered through the Henry W. Bloch School of Management is similar to programs offered at about 20 institutions around the country.

The Kansas City Star reports prospective students will take 26 credit hours in the first semester and 16 in the second, with an eight-week paid internship and a three-week experience abroad. Their tuition will be paid through scholarships funded by the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation.

The school hopes to enroll 30 to 40 students in the first year.

Dustin Cornwell, director of MBA programs at the Bloch School, said the program’s curriculum will stress a strong foundation in business, communication and leadership skills.