Kaiser Study: Hawaii Obamacare Exchange to Pay Insurers $973/month
Broken Trust Freitas, Greenwood Use Wonder Debacle to Cement Control of Manoa Campus
SA: After his first two weeks on the job, University of Hawaii-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple used a football analogy to describe the bumpy start.
Apple's baptism coincided with an embarrassing week in which UH athletics director Jim Donovan and the Stan Sheriff arena manager were placed on indefinite paid leave because of a bogus Stevie Wonder concert that cost the university $200,000.
By the end of last week, Apple was quoting former NFL All-Pro lineman Rockne Freitas, (Lokelani Lindsey’s Broken Trust point man) who was selected as the interim replacement for Donovan on Wednesday.
"Rockne said … ‘You don't feel into the game until you take your first shot,'" Apple said. "And now I'm in the game."
Faculty members and others who care about UH wonder who is running the flagship Manoa campus — the new Manoa chancellor or the president of the UH system who oversees all 10 campuses.
"It's not clear at all," said Bob Cooney, the outgoing chairman of the UH-Manoa Faculty Senate who has met with Apple three times already and likes him.
Dan Boylan, a political commentator and UH-West Oahu history professor emeritus, said the events of last week will quickly teach Apple about the difficulties of trying to lead the Manoa campus while working under the UH president.
"He's learning what (who) he's going to have to do to earn his pay," Boylan said. "Coming out of this, there certainly will have to be some clear lines drawn about who is responsible."….
Asked by the Star-Advertiser who is in charge of UH athletics and the Manoa campus, Apple said: "There's no question there. The athletic director, Rockne, reports to me. I report directly to President Greenwood. I go to her for guidance. It's a very clear structure that the athletics department will be run by Rockne, who reports to me, definitely not the president." (In other words he’s bracketed top and bottom. Just like Principal Dr Michael Chun at KS.)
Takai agrees with others critical of a separate Manoa chancellor's office that last week's two high-profile news conferences represented "a missed opportunity for Apple."
"It was a chance for him to show us why a position of chancellor is important," Takai said. "But what happened this past week doesn't surprise me because it's been going on for years now. This is another reason why the Board of Regents should study consolidating the two offices."
Complete Rundown on Legislative Races, Fundraising
PR: We have updated our rundown of potentially competitive state House and Senate campaigns with campaign-finance figures for the past six months and some endorsements.
We have also added one race to the lineup, newcomer Nicole Velasco, who used to work for the state auditor, against Honolulu City Councilman Romy Cachola in the Democratic primary in House District 30 in Kalihi. (Cachola is being targeted by the pro-rail crowd.)
*SD23 (Heeia-Laie-Waialua)
Sen. Clayton Hee (D) (Overall: $494,025 Six-month period: $44,271 Cash on hand: $405,621)
Colleen Meyer (R) (Overall: $22,519 Six-month period: $200 Cash on hand: $7,534 Loans: $49,850, mostly owed from previous campaign)
Outlook: Leans Democratic. Hee, the chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee, has a sizable war chest going into his re-election campaign. But the district has been redrawn to include more of the North Shore neighborhoods that have been trending Republican over the past few cycles. Meyer, who lost re-election to the House in a close race in 2008, was the most conservative Republican in the chamber. Republicans believe Meyer could be competitive.
*SD25 (Hawaii Kai-Waimanalo-Kailua)
Sen. Pohai Ryan (D) (Overall: $45,009 Six-month period: $28,490 Cash on hand: $15,438)
Laura Thielen (D) (Overall: $33,860 Six-month period: $33,860 Cash on hand: $21,412)
Levani Lipton (D) (Overall: $5,744 Six-month period: $5,744 Cash on hand: -$5,619)
Fred Hemmings (R) (Overall: $15,800 Six-month period: $15,800 Cash on hand: $6,119)
Outlook: Leans Republican. …the winner of the Dem primary will have to face Hemmings, a surfing legend and former Senate minority leader who is one of the state’s most popular Republicans. The GOP has circled the district as a potential pick-up.
Abercrombie has Until 2014 to Kill Prepaid
SA: A state panel called the Prepaid Health Care Advisory Council will need to figure out how to marry the state law with the ACA, which pre-empts any provision of a state law that interferes with it. Health plans offered within the state are still subject to the Prepaid Health Care Act, but there are sizeable knots to untangle, said Ellen Carson, an attorney whose clients run the gamut of the isle health care industry.
Among the myriad questions to be settled: The state insurance exchange is supposed to offer patients more choice, with a range of price points based in part on what the consumer pays. Can the state law be stretched to enable that kind of flexibility?
Or, there's the type of person to be covered, Carson said: The ACA's employer mandates for coverage generally apply to those who work 30 or more hours per week, compared to the state's 20-hour rule. Which hourly minimum will prevail?
Or, there's the content of the plans. The state law requires coverage of a single in-vitro fertilization procedure in its plans.
"Will national plans coming into the exchange have to provide that?" Carson asked rhetorically. "There's going to be some uneven competition going on."
Reconciling all of this is less a problem for the Legislature than the executive branch, said Beth Giesting, the state's health care transformation coordinator in the Office of the Governor.
"The administration needs to be working as fast and efficiently as it can to get everything in line by the 2014 deadline," Giesting said.
Influence: Insurers to Pay for 100% of Hawaii Health Connector
Star-Advertiser: The health care exchange, the Hawaii Health Connector, is a nonprofit? Who’s doing the work?
Giesting: Right now, our exchange here in Hawaii is a nonprofit. And the work of building an exchange, particularly the work of putting together a competent Web-based application and enrollment system is being paid for by the federal government.
Once the exchange is up and running, it has to be paid for by other resources, which we assume would be the insurers … (Private takeover of government function. Just like the Blue Planet Foundation does all the wind scammers’ work at the PUC.)
Star-Advertiser: Any comments on the protests earlier this year that the exchange agency would not be covered by the Sunshine Law, and that industry representation would overwhelm consumer interests?
Giesting: There certainly will be a lot of regulations from the federal government, and the Legislature can get in on the act and regulate even further. …
With the insurance exchange, I guess it’s just such a new endeavor, a different kind of animal that’s been put together, that there will be a lot of tweaking, a lot of seeing how it behaves.
I truly believe that the biggest problem at the beginning was that there was so much work to be done to establish the insurance exchange, the electronic system, … that there was not adequate attention given to the needs of consumers. That really was an oversight that we had to pay for.
Borreca: Pacific Resources Partnership Like Segregationists
Borreca: This democracy stuff takes a little effort….
Question: Let's say I want to say this candidate took "illegal campaign contributions." The contributions were illegal because the people who gave them violated the campaign spending laws, the guy who got them didn't do anything wrong — but can I make it sound like he is a criminal?
Answer: The "say anything rule" is clear. For instance, back in 1972, the FCC made a TV station in Atlanta, Ga., run a commercial from a white racist running for the U.S. Senate. His disgusting ad said the "main reason why n- - - -rs want integration is because n- - - -rs want our white women."
Star-Adv: Dumping Rail Will Kill Honolulu’s Credibility in Washington
SA: Mayor Carlisle and Caldwell, former city managing director and acting mayor. Both are strong supporters of the rail but have been less than effective in responding to Cayetano's criticism of the project, essentially leaving it up to special-interest groups to advertise on rail's behalf.
Even then, the message gets off-track. An advocacy group of contractors, unionized carpenters and construction workers who see the rail project as a source of jobs has tried to smear Cayetano for what it claims is his having received "pay to play" campaign contributions in the 1990s. That side show detracts from what really is at stake….
A turn in the road at this point would be devastating. Contrary to Cayetano's warning that the federal government may renege, no federal grant for a transportation project at this stage has been denied. However, the city's reversal to halt the project is likely to jeopardize federal help in any future project aimed at coping with traffic congestion in Honolulu.
Caldwell and Carlisle need to explain those long-term ramifications to give voters a clearer understanding of what's at stake — not only the rail line, but the future of Honolulu.
ABC News: $26 per Gallon Biofuel at Center of Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative
ABC: U.S. Pacific Command is working closely with Hawaii, the most oil addicted state in the nation, to ensure that the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, a plan launched in 2008 to reduce the state’s consumption of fossil fuels by 70 percent by 2030 is a success.
“Pacific Command accounts for 20 percent of the island’s energy demand, so Hawaii needed Pacific Command to sign on to make the Clean Energy Initiative work,” Joelle Simonpietri senior analyst to U.S. Pacific Command Energy Office joint innovation and experimentation division told ABC News.
The military is using the Hawaiian islands as a test bed for new green tech innovation — everything from algae-based jet fuels and hydrogen fuel cell technology to smart-grids that can resist cyber terror.
Some of these efforts will be showcased on July 18, when the Navy tests a carrier strike force using alternative fuels during the six-week, 22-nation Rim of the Pacific exercises….
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “I don’t believe we can afford it.”
The Navy purchased 450,000 gallons of biofuels for $12 million in 2011 for the maneuver — $26 per gallon.
Justice Reinvestment
MW: Some people feared that these bills would cause early release for prisoners. Others thought these bills were just about bringing more prisoners back from incarceration on the Mainland.
The reality is that these new laws, known as Act 139 and Act 140, are much more comprehensive than this. The goal is to enhance public safety, reduce recidivism (percentage of criminals that commit another crime after serving a sentence), and to scale the justice system to become more cost effective. It was for these reasons that I supported this legislation.
The state's aging film studio angles for millions of dollars in renovations
SA: (We didn’t do any maintenance so … )
· » The primary soundstage, a 16,500-square-foot facility built in 1994, needs a new air-conditioning system.
· » Large double doors on a separate building that houses a water tank — built in 1999 by the producers of "Baywatch: Hawaii" — are "dangerous to move," and the building itself lacks electricity.
· » Four wood cottages dating from 1976 and the original "Hawaii Five-0" need to be replaced because they have extensive termite damage to railings, windows and doors; carpenter ants in the electrical systems; and rats in the attics, air-conditioning vents and sewage system. Additionally, the flooring in the wardrobe cottage is not safe to walk on.
· » Mold was growing on the furniture in the new production offices, which were finished six years ago.
Private Schools Flip Homework, Lectures
SA: Traditionally, homework has been used as a vehicle for students to practice skills and build on what they've learned.
That model is increasingly being questioned, though.
And a growing number of Hawaii teachers are instead "flipping" their classrooms — introducing material through digital mini-lessons assigned for homework, then having students apply and expand on what they learned during the school day.
Josh Winter, who teaches social studies and English at St. Andrew's Priory School, flipped his sixth-grade classes last school year and said the model allows teachers to cut down on lecturing and focus on discussions, projects and individualized tutoring.
The approach also appeals to tech-savvy students, he said, because the revamped homework lessons often come in the form of videos, narrated computer slideshows or online tutorials.
"If the instruction is delivered at home, the in-class lecture changes dramatically," Winter said at a recent talk for teachers on the model. "It changes the entire dynamics of the class."
Castle & Cooke Affordable housing cut from Kapolei
SA: When the state offered 40 acres in Kapolei for private development of affordable housing several years ago, the plan was to produce 751 homes for sale or rent to occupants who met tight income restrictions.
But the result has fallen short of those ambitions.
The number of homes being built was reduced by more than 100 while many of the planned rentals were converted to for-sale housing and the income restrictions were lifted on about 20 percent of the homes.
The state’s Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. and its private development partner on the project, Castle & Cooke Homes, say the shortcomings were driven largely by the economic downturn, and nonetheless regard the altered outcome a success.
Enviros Outraged: Frogs Eating too Many Cockroahes, Ticks
SA: "Across 15 sites on the island of Hawaii, we found that coqui frogs were associated with a reduction in the total number of leaf-litter invertebrates, primarily Acari," the scientists reported, referring to the group of arachnids that includes mites and ticks.
They said the increase in flies can be attributable to the presence of coqui excrement — and their carcasses when they die.
The bugs that live in foliage were not as severely affected.
But the researchers found a discrepancy when they opened up the 874 coqui stomachs, finding 6,700 items.
"Some large-bodied and highly mobile cockroaches (Blattodea) and grasshoppers (Orthoptera) were frequently found in adult stomachs (62 and 48 items, respectively), but were not common in the environmental samples," they said. "Because these taxa should have been collected on the foliage, this suggests that portions of the foliage invertebrate communities might have been impacted by coquis but were not measured in this study."
Theology: No Need Act, Coral Reefs totally Dooomed by Global Worming
Bradbury criticizes the, “There is still hope” message being espoused by scientists and envrionmentalists.
Just last week, a consensus statement signed by about 2,700 scientists at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Australia called on governments to take immediate action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, pollution and overfishing to save the world’s coral reefs.
But Bradbury says scientists and policymakers need to wake up to the fact that these trends aren’t going to be reversed and that it’s time to start pouring resources into what needs to be done once the critical ecosystems are gone. (LOL! You knew this was a grab for money, didn’t you?)