SALLY HO, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The nation’s chief doctor said he doesn’t regret saying gun violence is a public health issue, calling his difficult confirmation process a consequence of speaking out.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Saturday that the backlash from his gun-control statement was disappointing but not a surprise.

He was confirmed in December in the face of opposition from the National Rifle Association, which was a rare defeat for the powerful gun lobby.

Murthy said the challenging process showed him the importance of community, including those from the medical, public health, tech and Asian-American communities who rallied in support of him. He also credited his fiancee Alice Chen for helping him cope.

The doctor said he still believes gun violence is a preventable health problem, comparing it to seatbelts and swimming pool safety.

He was speaking at the Asian American Journalists Association convention gala in San Francisco.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01) was presented with the Award for Conservative Excellence by Matt Schlapp and the American Conservative Union.

The award is only presented to Members of Congress who scored greater than 90% on a variety of issues important to grassroots conservatives. The ratings include votes on taxes, wasteful government spending, cultural issues, defense and foreign policy. Huelskamp earned a score of 96% in 2014.
Matt Schlapp, President of the American Conservative Union, had this to say about Huelskamp’s record: “Conservatives in Kansas’ 1st Congressional District have come to expect independent conservative leadership from Rep. Tim Huelskamp. From exposing fraud at the Department of Veterans Affairs to his dedication to a strong culture of life, Rep. Huelskamp displays a real passion for traditional conservative values. That passion is reflected in his voting record and we are pleased to award him with ACU’s Award for Conservative Excellence based on his 96% ACU rating for 2014.”
Huelskamp: “I am proud to accept the Award for Conservative Excellence from Matt Schlapp and the American Conservative Union. I am honored by their recognition of my proven conservative voting record. Being a conservative is not just talking about it during a campaign – it is actually voting that way in Washington.”

By DAN MARGOLIES

The proportion of Missourians without health insurance fell by 4.3 percentage points from 2013 to the first half of 2015, according to Gallup survey results published Monday.

The rate of uninsured Missourians now stands at 11.4 percent, compared with 15.2 percent in 2013.

The decrease occurred even though Missouri neither expanded Medicaid nor set up its own state-based marketplace under the Affordable Care Act.

“We’ve been doing better with our marketplace plan than most other states,” says Tim McBride, a health economist at Washington University in St. Louis, explaining one reason for the substantial drop in Missouri.

He says the major health foundations in Kansas City and St. Louis “have been putting a lot of effort into getting the word out about the marketplace.”

“So even though we don’t have Medicaid expansion, Missouri has been doing quite well in the marketplace,” he says.

Seven of the 10 states with the biggest reductions in uninsured rates implemented Medicaid expansion and established a marketplace while two did one or the other, according to Gallup.

Nationwide, the uninsured rate plunged from 17.3 percent in 2013 to 11.7 percent through the first half of this year.

The data, collected as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, are based on daily surveys conducted from January through June 2015 in which respondents were asked, “Do you have health insurance coverage?” The margin of error is 1 to 2 percentage points for most states except those with small populations, where it climbs to as much as 4 percent.

The drop in the uninsured rate comes two years after the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly called Obamacare, took effect. The rate is the lowest since Gallup began keeping track in 2008.

“The ACA is not only about health insurance coverage, but that’s its primary focus and so, looking at the percentage of folks that are uninsured, it’s a great measure to see how well it’s doing. And clearly it’s carrying out its primary purpose,” says Sheldon Weisgrau, director of the Health Reform Resource Project in Topeka.

The survey is the first since the Supreme Court ruled last month that, under the ACA, premium subsidies are available in states that did not set up their own insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, as well as in states that did.

Kansas, which like Missouri did not expand Medicaid or set up its own insurance exchange, also saw a drop in its uninsured rate, albeit a more modest one that its eastern neighbor. According to Gallup, the rate dropped from 12.5 percent in 2013 to 11.3 percent in the first half of 2015.

“We would have much lower uninsured rates,” Weisgrau says, had Kansas and Missouri expanded Medicaid or established their own marketplaces,

“In general, if we had the political will to do one or the other or preferably both, we would be in really good shape in terms of looking at our uninsured rate compared to other states, especially when you look at where we started,” Weisgrau says, referring to Kansas in particular.

Expansion would make all adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level eligible. That translates into $16,105 in annual income for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four.

Pleas by health advocates and hospitals in Missouri and Kansas to expand Medicaid have fallen on deaf ears. Legislators in both states say they’re concerned about the costs of expansion, even though the federal government is paying for 100 percent of expansion through 2016 and no less than 90 percent after that.

Recent reports by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation concluded that expansion saves states money by allowing them to use federal funds instead of state dollars to provide health services to pregnant women, prison inmates, people with mental illness and disabilities, and others.

States that both expanded Medicaid and set up their own marketplaces saw their uninsured rate drop from 16 percent in 2013 to 8.9 percent, according to Gallup, a 44 percent drop. States that implemented one or neither went from 18.7 percent to 13.4 percent, a 28 percent drop.

Arkansas and Kentucky saw the biggest reductions in their uninsured rates since the ACA took effect at the start of 2014, according to the survey. Arkansas’ plummeted from 22.5 percent to 9.1 percent. Kentucky’s fell from 20.4 percent to 9 percent.

 

Dan Margolies is editor for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A political pope is sure to seize his opportunity when he addresses a political body.

So both Democrats and Republicans are looking forward to Pope Francis’ remarks to Congress next month — and bracing for them, too.

The pope thrills Democrats with his teachings on climate change, social justice and immigration. At the same time, his message on life and the church’s traditional opposition to abortion comfort Republicans.

There’s little doubt Francis will seek to send a similar message to lawmakers representing the richest nation on earth.

The pope comes to the Capitol on Sept. 24, where he will be the first pontiff to ever address a joint meeting of Congress. He will also appear on a West Front balcony to greet the public.

NEOSHO COUNTY – A Kansas man died in an accident just before 1p.m. on Saturday in Neosho County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 International semi driven by Thomas James Smith, 41, Fort Lupton, CO., was southbound on U.S. 169 just north of 130th Road.

The vehicle veered into the northbound lane and hit a 2006 Honda Motorcycle driven by Mario D. Lopez, 62, Cherryvale.

The semi then left the roadway, traveled through a ditch, continued over a set of railroad tracks, and came to rest in a field.

Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.

Smith was not injured. Lopez was wearing a helmet and Smith was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The New York Times is reporting that documents provided by former systems analyst Edward Snowden provide new details about ties between the National Security Agency and telecom giant AT&T.

The Times and ProPublica jointly reviewed the documents dating from 2003 to 2013. In a story posted Saturday on its website, the Times reports that in 2003 AT&T led the way on a new collection capability that the spy agency said amounted to a “live” presence on the global net.

The Times says that in one of its first months of operation the new collection capability forwarded 400 billion Internet metadata records.

The newspaper also reports that the documents show that AT&T’s cooperation has involved a broad range of classified activities, including help with spying on Internet communications at U.N. headquarters.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas woman faces an upgraded charge in the stabbing death of a man whose body was dumped in a river in northwest Missouri.

The St. Joseph News-Press reports that 43-year-old Kelli Hoard, of Elwood, Kansas, initially was charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 28-year-old Richard Berry. Now, she faces charges of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandonment of a corpse.

Issues arose Friday after her defense attorney informed the court she was rejecting a plea bargain. Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins told the judge he’d file the additional charges, in part because of the rejection of the plea offer.

Berry’s body was found in April in the Third Fork of the Platte River near Easton. Two men also are charged in the killing.