| today's
laugh Constantly
complaining
A customer was bothering the waiter in
a restaurant. First, he asked that the air conditioning
be turned up because he was too hot, then he asked it be
turned down cause he was too cold, and so on for about
half an hour.
Surprisingly, the waiter was very
patient, he walked back and forth and never once got
angry. So finally, a second customer asked him why he
didn’t throw out the pest.
"Oh, I really don’t care or
mind," said the waiter with a smile. "We
don’t even have an air conditioner."
New ticket technology
A motorist was mailed a picture of his
car speeding through an automated radar. A $40 speeding
ticket was included. Being cute, he sent the police
department a picture of $40. The police responded with
another mailed photo-of handcuffs.
1908
INTERESTING MELANGE.
A Chronological Record of Events as they have
Transpired in the City and County since our last Issue.
Cyclist Collides With
Buggy.
F.M. Rude Receives
Painful Injuries in Street Accident.
F.M. Rude, manager of the Carthage
Commercial college, met with a painful though not serious
accident Saturday night while riding a bicycle about the
streets.
About 7:30, Mr. Rude was riding west on
Chestnut street and near the corner of Garrison avenue
tried to pass in front of an automobile and turn in
behind a buggy which was just in front of the car.
At that moment, however, the driver of
the buggy stopped suddenly and Mr. Rude, who was wheeling
quite rapidly, collided with the vehicle with great
force. He was thrown from his wheel and for a time was
unable to rise on account of a severly wrenched knee.
He is able to be at school as usual
today, but his powers of locomotion are seriously
impaired.
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Today's Feature
Gingrich Congratulates
Missouri Lawmakers.
ST. LOUIS – Former
Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives and founder of the Center
for Health Transformation Newt Gingrich
today commended a group of Missouri
lawmakers for being the first in the
nation to make it possible for anyone to
be able to find what a provider charged
for a health care service covered by the
MO HealthNet program with just the click
of a mouse. Gingrich praised the work of
State Representative Brian Yates,
R-Lee’s Summit, Senator Scott T.
Rupp, R-St. Charles, Speaker Ron Richard,
R-Joplin, and Senator Eric Schmitt,
R-Glendale, at a press conference at the
St. Louis County Library headquarters.
Yates and Rupp sponsored and passed House
Bill 577 that was signed into law by the
governor earlier this month. Schmitt
added language to the bill creating the
MO HealthNet Data Transparency program.
Gingrich said the MO
HealthNet Data Transparency program is
the first of its kind in the nation.
"Missouri has
taken a bold and transformational step to
create a more transparent and more
efficient care delivery system,"
Gingrich said. "Their efforts will
prove crucial in a national attempt to
eliminate the fraud, waste and abuse in
our healthcare system."
The program works to
decrease fraud and abuse in the state-run
healthcare system. The Center for Health
Transformation reports that outright
fraud accounts for as much as 10 percent
of all healthcare spending nationally,
totaling more than $200 billion every
year. In 2005, the Kansas City Star
estimated that fraudulent Medicaid claims
in Missouri could total up to $575
million a year.
"It is
unacceptable that upwards of half a
billion dollars a year are potentially
lost to provider fraud in our
state’s Medicaid system," said
Schmitt, who added the transparency
language mirrored after Senate Bill 549
that he introduced. "Making these
costs transparent is a big step in
helping us catch those providers who
cheat the system, essentially stealing
precious tax dollars that should go to
care for our state’s most vulnerable
citizens."
"From the largest
hospital to the smallest health center
– any provider that serves the MO
HealthNet community – will
participate," said Yates, the
bill’s lead sponsor. "Making
all this data public will allow the state
to move more quickly in indentifying
fraudulent providers, helping us make
sure state funding goes to those in need
as well as lowering or slowing the
increase in cost of healthcare to
everyone."
The provision requires
the MO HealthNet Division, by August 28,
2010, to create a database that, while
protecting the privacy of MO HealthNet
recipients’ information, would make
claim information available online. The
provision requires the information
provided be in a format that is easily
accessible, usable, and understandable to
the public.
"By working
together to make the system more
transparent, the House and Senate have
put the brakes on healthcare fraud and
abuse," said Richard, the
bill’s co-sponsor. "House Bill
577 puts Missouri on the leader board for
healthcare transformation, and we will
continue to work diligently to further
healthcare reform in our state."
The information will be
available to those interested in
improving the quality of care provided to
individuals eligible for MO HealthNet
programs and services, as well as
researchers, healthcare providers, and
individuals interested in reducing the
prevalence of waste and fraud under the
program.
"Making this
information public will help more
Missourians make better-informed
decisions on where to seek their
services, as it helps identify good
providers as well as targets those who
cheat the system at the expense of
taxpayers and Missourians who truly need
the care," said Rupp, who handled
the bill in the Senate.
To learn more about the
bill, visit www.senate.mo.gov and keyword
search HB577.
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Just Jake
Talkin'
Mornin',Saw onea those shows ‘bout animals
the other evenin’. I don’t ‘member
what they were, but these two little critters
were facin’ opposite directions diggin’
their respective holes in the ground. Both of
‘em goin’ a mile a minute. The fact
that they were throwin’ all the dirt outa
their hole into the hole bein’ scraped out
by the other didn’t seem ta bother ‘em
any. They just kept their nose down and kept
movin’ the dirt back and forth between
‘em.
I suppose as obviously futile a
situation those two critters were in, it’s
sometimes a good idea to stick your head up and
take a look around. Could be that by
shiftin’ just a little, the work might get
done a little better, or at least not hinder
those makin’ progress.
This is some fact, but mostly,
Just Jake Talkin’
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| Sponsored by Metcalf Auto Supply
Sponsored by Curry Automotive
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Weekly Columns CLICK and CLACK
TALK
CARS
Dear Tom and Ray:
We’re buying a car for my
17-year-old son. I’ve found two cars locally
that appeal to us - a classic 1968 VW with a few
thousand miles on a rebuilt engine, and a 1992
Honda Accord with power everything, a
four-cylinder engine and 162,000 miles. From my
experience, having owned a Bug in my glory days,
the delight of working on the vehicle and
maintaining it myself might outweigh the
practicality of a new car that could have
subsequent issues - you know used cars! The price
of each is comparable ...what do you guys think?
- Mindy
RAY: Like most of us do,
you’re conflating your glory days with the
car that you drove in your glory days. During
that period of your life, you were single and
carefree, you had long, flowing, not-gray hair,
you wore a size 6, and you drove to Woodstock
with four boyfriends competing for your attention
and Hubert H. Humphrey bumper stickers on your
car. That was a good, old time.
TOM: But it wasn’t the car
that was good. Even in its day, it was a cheap,
dangerous car. And now it’s infinetely more
so - due to the greater number of cars on the
road and the percentage of them that are now
enormous.
RAY: And since young drivers -
and especially young male drivers - tend to crash
their cars at higher rates than other people, you
don’t want your teenage son in a VW Bug when
that happens.
TOM: So, get him the Accord.
While there are things he won’t be able to
do to the Accord, he can learn to do the basic
maintenance.
NASCAR THIS WEEK
By Monte Dutton
Bowyer’s
Got to Keep Up -- Or Else
Clint Bowyer finished 29th in
the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International
Speedway. He can’t afford another misstep in
the eight races leading up to NASCAR’s Chase
for the Sprint Cup.
After the first six races of
the season, Bowyer ranked second in points. Now
he’s 16th and has eight weeks to work his
way into the top 12 and make the Chase. Kasey
Kahne presently occupies 12th place. Bowyer
trails him by 135 points.
He’s still got time, but
it’s not going to be easy.
Two years ago, Bowyer finished
third in the Chase. Last year he was fifth. At
age 30, Bowyer is one of NASCAR’s bright
young drivers. He came up driving the dirt tracks
near his hometown, Emporia, Kan. He won races in
Loudon, N.H., in 2007 and Richmond, Va., in 2008.
Now, however, Bowyer faces a
stern challenge. A year ago his team, Richard
Childress Racing, placed all three of its drivers
in the Chase. This year, at least for now, all
four (Casey Mears was added) are outside the top
12.
What’s it going to take to
make the Chase?
"Just be consistent,"
said Bowyer. "I’m fairly confident we
can get at least two of us in. You know, (Jeff)
Burton has been on a little bit of a down slide,
but I feel like we, with the ‘33’ team,
have really capitalized on learning some things
and had a good, at least a solid, last few weeks.
"I think we’ve
stopped the bleeding, so to speak, on the bigger
race tracks, the mile and a halfs (like the next
stop, Chicagoland Speedway). ... We had some bad
luck and had 250 or 300 points wiped out from
right underneath of us there within a month, and
it takes a while to get those points back."
Bowyer, by the way, is a fan of
NASCAR’s new "double-file
restarts" rule.
"We are all about our
fans," he said. "We can’t do this
without our fans, and we’ve got to make sure
that we are putting on a good show for them. If
they are enjoying our show and our product on
race day, that’s what it’s all about.
"So I feel like it’s
added a new level of excitement and kind of given
NASCAR a wake-up call. ... Those double-file
restarts will definitely pick up the pace a
little bit."
Bowyer hopes it’s his pace
and not just the sport’s in general.
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