RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The next open enrollment season for President Barack Obama’s health care law is only two months away.

Don’t expect a repeat of last year’s website meltdown, but other potential complications await consumers.

This year could expose underlying problems with the law itself that are less easily fixed than a computer system.

The way the law combines insurance and taxes — already two of the most complicated areas for consumers — looks like a sure-fire formula for confusion.

Even supporters of the law are concerned.

The Obama administration is promising a better consumer experience when open enrollment starts Nov. 15, but even its officials say things won’t be perfect.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) on Thursday received an update from Dr. Tom Frieden, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on the Ebola outbreak and Dr. Frieden’s recent visit to West Africa. As Ranking Member of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, Sen. Moran is committed to making certain the CDC, National Institutes of Health and other federal health agencies are effectively prioritizing the issues facing Kansas, the United States, and the world.

“The Ebola outbreak continues to expand and escalate in West Africa and the international community has not effectively addressed this problem,” Sen. Moran said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to speak with Dr. Frieden personally about the Administration’s strategy to respond to this outbreak and I appreciate his commitment to this issue. I believe that with the right comprehensive, coordinated international response, Ebola does not have to be a death sentence and the disease can be contained.”

The CDC Director is scheduled to testify on Ebola in West Africa and the public health threat before a joint hearing of the Senate Appropriations Health Subcommittee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Tuesday, September 16, 2014. Dr. Kent Brantly, the American doctor who contracted Ebola in West Africa and survived after treatment in the United States, will also testify about the worsening epidemic.

By Bryan Thompson
Kansas Public Radio

TOPEKA — A Washington, D.C., group that advocates for families and children is urging Kansans to speak up for renewal of the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

CHIP was created in 1997 to provide coverage for kids whose families are not poor enough for Medicaid but can’t afford private insurance. Congress must reauthorize the program for it to continue after the next fiscal year. More than 56,000 children in Kansas are enrolled in CHIP.
The advocacy group First Focus recently released a report showing that publicly funded insurance, including CHIP and Medicaid, is more important to rural children than to their urban counterparts. According to First Focus spokesman Ed Walz, that’s absolutely true in Kansas.

“Rural kids are 23 percent more likely to get their health care through CHIP or Medicaid than kids in Kansas urban communities,” he said.

Kansas is positioned to play a key role in getting the program renewed, Walz said. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., is a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has scheduled a hearing on the reauthorization Tuesday. In the House, Kansas Reps. Tim Huelskamp and Mike Pompeo, both Republicans, serve on the Congressional Rural Caucus.

The Senate bill would reauthorize CHIP through 2019. Walz said the price tag for the extension would depend on the final structure of the bill.

“There’s some really encouraging news there,” he said, because the Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of extending CHIP funding for four years and found it would be less than the alternative.

“As children became uninsured and the federal government had to pick up some of those costs, as children moved into Obamacare exchange plans and as they moved into Medicaid – that combination of costs would actually be higher for the government than extending CHIP coverage,” Walz said.

First Focus conducted a poll earlier this year that showed strong bipartisan support for CHIP in Kansas, including two-thirds of Republicans and two-thirds of voters who identify with the Tea Party.

MARION- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in Marion County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta driven by Eliseo Garcia Jr., 26, Cimarron, was involved a police pursuit with Marion and Chase County Units westbound on 240th Street just east of the U.S. 56-U.S. 77 Junction in Marion

The driver lost control of the vehicle. It went through the north ditch and a fence before coming to rest in a pasture.

Garcia Jr. was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital.
The accident remains under investigation.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — State records show that a Democratic U.S. Senate nominee seeking to get his name off the ballot is the only candidate since 2010 to fail to use wording that the secretary of state’s office says is required.

The Wichita Eagle reports that nine other candidates have withdrawn after winning their party’s nomination in the past four years. Records The Eagle obtained shows all of them declared they were incapable to serve.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach has kept Democrat Chad Taylor on the ballot against his will. Kobach says Taylor did not declare himself incapable to serve if elected in his letter withdrawing from the race.

Taylor sought to withdraw to clear the way for independent candidate Greg Orman to directly oppose Republican Pat Roberts.

TOPEKA- A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 4 p.m. on Saturday in Shawnee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1983 Harley Davidson driven by Mark S. Adams, 57, Topeka, was eastbound Interstate 70 at MacVicar Ave in Topeka. The traffic slowed and the driver laid the motorcycle down to avoid traffic.

Adams was transported to St. Francis Medical Center.
The KHP reported he was wearing eye protection but not a helmet at the time of the accident.