ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal appeals court in St. Louis has set a September hearing in the case of a Missouri man whose late May execution was delayed by the U.S. Supreme Court hours before he was scheduled to die.
Forty-six-year-old Russell Bucklew was scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 21 before the Supreme Court granted his request for a stay of execution.
Bucklew suffers from a rare congenital condition that causes weakened and malformed blood vessels as well as tumors in his nose and throat. The last-minute appeal cited those medical concerns as well as the secrecy surrounding the state’s lethal injection drug and its supplier.
Federal court records show that the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled a hearing on Bucklew’s case for September 9.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says Individual Retirement Accounts are not protected from creditors in bankruptcy proceedings if the accounts are inherited.
The justices ruled unanimously on Thursday that a Wisconsin woman who declared bankruptcy could not keep a $300,000 IRA that she inherited when her mother died.
Bankruptcy law typically shields retirement assets from creditors. But unlike a typical IRA, one that is inherited from a parent can be spent immediately without waiting for the new owner to retire. Lower courts said that change in the status of the account makes it less like retirement savings and more like a pot of money that should be available to pay off creditors.
Tom Bell, president and CEO of the Kansas Hospital Association- photo KHA
By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA — The chief executive of the Kansas Hospital Association is using a recent report about uninsured veterans to make the case for Medicaid expansion.
In an opinion piece sent to newspapers on Wednesday, Tom Bell said approximately 15,000 Kansas veterans and 10,000 of their family members lack health insurance, according to the report written by the Urban Institute with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
In Missouri, approximately 30,000 non-elderly veterans and 22,000 of their family members are uninsured.
About half the uninsured veterans and their family members in both states would qualify for Medicaid, if eligibility for the program were expanded to 138 percent of the federal poverty level – $32,913 for a family of four, the report said.
Currently, in Kansas, able-bodied adults are eligible for the Medicaid program – called KanCare – only if they have dependent children and earn less than 33 percent of the poverty level, which for a family of four is $7,770 annually. No matter their income, Kansas adults without children are ineligible unless they are disabled.
It’s one thing to be forced to wait months for care, Bell wrote, referring to recent revelations about long waiting lists at Veteran’s Affairs medical centers across the country. But it’s another, he said, to have no access to care.
“Unfortunately, this is happening in Kansas,” he wrote. “It’s the job of elected state officials, including our governor, to help veterans and their family members gain access to that line. That could easily be done by expanding coverage and access to care for our veterans and for thousands of other hard-working
individuals through Medicaid expansion.”
The Urban Institute report said that uninsured veterans are more likely to be younger, less educated and to have served more recently than veterans who have insurance. In addition, the report said, they are less likely to be married or connected to the labor force, “all of which could contribute to lower access to employer-sponsored coverage.”
The hospital association and a coalition of advocacy groups have been pushing for expansion since January 2012. But they’ve made little progress. In the just-ended legislative session, Republican leaders refused to hold a hearing on a bill that would have authorized expansion.
Gov. Sam Brownback, a conservative Republican seeking a second term, hasn’t shut the door on expansion. But he has expressed concerns about its cost and has said he doesn’t want to add able-bodied adults to the Medicaid rolls when Kansans with developmental and physical disabilities remain on waiting lists for services.
“We’re trying to push people who are able-bodied right now to get a job,” Brownback said during a recent interview with a news organization operated by the conservative Heritage Foundation. “That is a far more likely route out of poverty than having a bunch of government programs giving hand-outs to able-bodied individuals.”
Despite his stated concerns, Brownback has said he’s watching attempts by Republican governors in a handful of other states to implement more private-sector versions of expansion – plans that use federal Medicaid dollars to help uninsured adults earning above the poverty level purchase private coverage.
“We’re watching all of it,” Brownback said recently. “I’m more confident today than I’ve ever been that there will be other options out there.”
The Urban Institute classified veterans as uninsured if they had no coverage and didn’t use VA health services. There was insufficient data to determine the number of veterans deemed uninsured who could potentially qualify for or access VA services, the report said.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some law enforcement officers say a Kansas law against texting-and-driving is difficult to enforce because it is too vague.
The 3-year-old law requires officers to ticket drivers who are writing or sending a text while driving or any time the phone is transmitting any type of data. A bill that would have clarified that the law doesn’t apply to drivers who are typing in a phone number to make a call did not get a hearing last session.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1xJTtdM ) the Kansas Highway Patrol issued 56 texting-and-driving citations in a recent crackdown.
Patrol spokesman Lt. Josh Kellerman says the law is making drivers safer but it requires officers to observe drivers carefully to confirm that they’re using their phone as allowed by law.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Olathe police are searching for those responsible for up to $10,000 in vandalism at Olathe East High School.
Police were called the school Wednesday evening and found damage on the school’s track and some utility buildings.
KSHB-TV reports the damage included white spray paint saying “Go South” on the outer lane of the track, with an image of a marijuana leaf and vulgar images and phrases on the center lanes.
Police said they don’t have any leads but did collect some white spray paint cans from the scene.
The third annual Herp-O-Rama will be held this Saturday, June 14, from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the Northwest Regional Office of the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) located at 701 James McCarthy Drive on the campus of Missouri Western State University. This fun, educational event is free and open to the public.
Nearly 400 people walked through the exhibits last summer, where they created herp art, watched educational presentations in an outdoor amphitheater, and got to touch or hold live native and exotic amphibians and reptiles.
The event also includes three guest speakers at 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 13 in the conference room at MDC. The speakers are Dan Krull, an environmental consultant and herpetologist from Kansas, Dan Fogell, author of “A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Nebraska”
and Jay McGhee, an assistant professor from Northwest Missouri State University.
Come and experience Missouri’s creepy side of nature and leave with a new respect and fascination for these often misunderstood animals.
This event is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Western State University, Pony Express Amphibian and Reptile Society and the Loess Hills Chapter of the Master Naturalists.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Sam Graves (MO-06), House Small Business Committee Chairman, today welcomed the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision to seek greater public input on the dangerous and costly proposed “Waters of the United States” rule. As requested by Graves, the EPA will extend the comment period that would expand its reach and jurisdiction to include small streams, ditches, and ponds, some of which may contain little or no water.
“The decision to seek more input is a step in the right direction, but it would be wiser to withdraw the rule, step back, and thoroughly weigh the costs and consequences for everyday Missourians. I speak with small businesses, farmers, and property owners who are deeply concerned that a bigger and more controlling government will cause higher costs, longer delays, and bigger headaches,” said Congressman Graves. “With a district that includes the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, I understand the importance of safeguarding our nation’s waters through a common sense approach. Washington bureaucrats have no business in our backyards and fields.”
BACKGROUND
At today’s Transportation subcommittee hearing, Graves asked the EPA and the Corps, both of whom testified at the hearing, to withdraw their rule. Graves provided the EPA with specific examples of how the rule would hurt small businesses and farmers in North Missouri.
Recently, Graves conducted a May 29 hearing on how the EPA rule would impact the Sixth District, which included testimony from former Blue Springs mayor, Tom Woods.
Graves also formed a coalition to ask the EPA to halt its ideological agenda and urge greater cooperation with America’s small businesses and farmers.
Previously, Graves sought local insight on EPA aggression taking place in Platte County.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – The Missouri chapter of the NAACP is vowing to mount its “largest-ever effort” to abolish the death penalty in the state.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has historically opposed the death penalty, partly because of what it says are racial disparities in how it’s applied. The Missouri NAAACP says it will spend more time and resources than it ever has to rally people against the death penalty and pressure lawmakers to repeal it.
Missouri has recently accelerated its pace in executing inmates after several years in which court challenges slowed down the schedule.
The Republican-led Legislature has given no indication that it’s likely to repeal the death penalty.
Gov. Jay Nixon and Attorney General Chris Koster, who are both Democrats, also have supported the death penalty.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – The Humane Society of the United States is opposing Missouri’s proposed constitutional amendment establishing a “right to farm.”
The amendment will appear on the Aug. 5 ballot. It asks voters whether the right “to engage in farming and ranching” should be “forever guaranteed” in the Missouri Constitution.
The Humane Society says the measure seeks to prohibit laws restricting industrialized agriculture and would allow large agricultural businesses to write their own rules. The organization predicts it would prompt lawsuits over what farming practices are permitted.
Farm groups and rural Republicans began pushing for the amendment after a 2010 conflict surrounding an initiative petition on dog breeders. The Humane Society was a leading supporter of that ballot question.
Supporters of this year’s proposal say they are trying to protect and promote agriculture.
Cindy Luxem, chief executive of the Kansas Health Care Association.-photo KHI News
By Mike Shields
KHI News Service
TOPEKA — Providers of home- and community-based (HCBS) Medicaid services and their state overseers are preparing for a raft of new federal rules that are intended to assure that the people who receive the services have more say in how they are helped and that their living conditions are “non-institutional.”
The regulations could have major consequences for many beneficiaries and the businesses and organizations that help them, particularly for some senior care providers who operate assisted living facilities attached to or in near proximity to nursing homes.
“It’s a big deal for us, a real big deal,” said Cindy Luxem, chief executive of the Kansas Health Care Association, a nursing home trade group. “It really is laying the groundwork on how we use assisted living, residential health care and other facility-type, congregate settings. We’re all going to be very engaged in how we develop this plan.”
Depending on how the rules are implemented, Luxem said, one unintended consequence might be that some people in assisted living could be forced to move into a full nursing or institutional setting because their assisted living arrangement no longer met Medicaid HCBS reimbursement requirements.
“It could work against the powers that be,” Luxem said.
Full nursing care usually is more expensive to the Medicaid program than HCBS.
Luxem said about 25 percent of the clientele served by her group’s members receive Medicaid HCBS benefits.
Waivers delayed
The new rules have prompted a delay in the processing of two HCBS Medicaid waivers filed earlier this year by Kansas officials with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Kansas was seeking renewal of two of its seven HCBS Medicaid waivers – one dealing with services for the developmentally disabled and the other for people disabled by traumatic brain injuries – but both those efforts now are on hold until Sept. 20 in order to incorporate elements of the new rules, which ultimately will apply to the service settings used under each of the various waivers.
Angela de Rocha, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, said officials at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave verbal OK of the extension for the two waiver applications and that agency’s written approval for the delay was pending.
“The extension was agreed to in conversation in advance,” she said. “This will enable the state to successfully complete and ensure an appropriate amount of time is available for the development of a transition plan to implement the new HCBS settings rule, to conduct a 30-day public comment period on the state’s proposed transition plan, to compile public comments for consideration and modify the plan based on public comment, as appropriate.”
The new regulations became effective March 17 but are expected to be phased in over a period of months and years.
The home- and community-based services in question typically include daily or frequent assistance with dressing, bathing and other routine necessities. They also can include case management and home health services. More than 32,000 Kansans currently receive the services.
The state is required to develop a transition plan for how it will implement the changes. Eight public hearings to gather information for the plan’s preparation are scheduled next week:
Monday
Meetings from noon to 1:30 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the WSU Metroplex, Room 180, 5015 E. 29th St. North in Wichita.
Tuesday
Conference calls from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dial (866) 620-7326 and enter conference code 2850442124.
Wednesday
A conference call from noon to 1 p.m.. Dial (866) 620-7326 and enter conference code 4283583031.
Meetings from noon to 1:30 p.m. and from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Holidome, 200 McDonald Drive in Lawrence.
Thursday
Meetings from noon to 1:30 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express, 4011 Parkview Drive in Pittsburg.
The new rules will require that the various settings where home- and community-based services are provided be “non-institutional” in nature and provide maximum opportunity for the beneficiaries to participate in the daily life of a community. They also call for choice in matters such as food and eating times.
Many details remain unknown because Kansas and other states still must develop their plans for implementing the rules and those plans will require federal approval.
Some HCBS providers said they believe their organizations already comply, at least in part, with the new rules and see them as a matter of little concern as relate to some type of services.
“I don’t think it will have any impact because our whole premise is to serve people in as integrative a way as possible. I just don’t see it as an issue,” with respect to the residential services provided, said Ron Pasmore, chief executive of KETCH, a Wichita nonprofit that provides various programs and services for the developmentally disabled.
But Pasmore said the new rules could have greater consequence for the state’s various sheltered work centers that serve the developmentally disabled.
“I do think it will have a potential large impact on center-based day programs that provide work settings,” he said. “There is a big push to move persons with (developmental disabilities) out of traditional sheltered work programs into regular employment in the community. These rules will make it more difficult to continue to provide services in segregated work settings.”
