Channel 1 Networks
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Boulder County kids get $$ for health
Dec 30th
Boulder County’s Focus on early intervention and outreach helps state secure additional Medicaid dollars
Boulder County Healthy Kids initiative helps families secure preventative healthcare, leading to healthier families and fewer intensive, costly services
Boulder County, Colo. – Colorado’s Medicaid Performance Bonus has nearly doubled for 2011, reflecting the crucial work being done by entities like Boulder County in getting children enrolled in the federal program.
In 2009, President Obama signed into law a reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) that included a Performance Bonus incentive for states that succeed in enrolling Medicaid-eligible children above target levels. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius announced on Wednesday that Colorado will receive over $26 million in bonus Medicaid funding. The state received $13.7 million in 2010.
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Colorado’s award was the third largest in the U.S., behind only Maryland and Virginia. This year, the state achieved a “Tier 2” bonus payment by exceeding target enrollment by more than 10%, an accomplishment which is rewarded at a higher rate.
States that qualify for bonuses have used strategies like cutting red tape and streamlining procedures to make enrollment easier. Boulder County’s recent focus on getting adults and children enrolled in Medicaid and CHP+, Colorado’s low-cost health plan for children, has contributed significantly to the state’s overall increase. Over the past four years, Boulder County’s Medicaid enrollment has increased 73%. In comparison, during this same period the ten largest Colorado counties have seen a 51% rise in enrollment numbers and Maximus (the state’s Medicaid and CHP+ contractor) has had a 42% increase.
One of the reasons for this difference is Boulder County Healthy Kids (BCHK), an outreach initiative which was launched in July 2008. BCHK works to improve child health by linking all eligible children, families, and pregnant women in Boulder County to available benefits and health coverage options. BCHK has created partnerships with both the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain School Districts, Salud Family Health Centers in Longmont, and Clinica Family Health Services in Boulder.
The program has stationed eligibility technicians in these locations to help identify need and enroll children and families. It is part of an early intervention model that Boulder County’s Housing and Human Services Department has implemented along with community partners and non-profits. The belief is that the earlier those in need access services, the better it is for them and for the community, as more intensive services down the line become more difficult and more expensive. Since 2008, BCHK has helped nearly 6,500 clients enroll in Medicaid and CHP+.
Boulder County Health Kids Manager Mae Hsu notes BCHK’s success rate. “We know that 98% of families who apply for medical benefits through Healthy Kids secure Medicaid or CHP+ coverage,” she says. “A big reason for that is our staff, who aim to make the enrollment process smooth and easy by helping families obtain all the documentation and information necessary for their applications.” In addition, she adds, through funding from the Colorado Health Foundation and The Colorado Trust, BCHK is able to assist families who are unable to pay the CHP+ enrollment fee.
The National Center for Health Statistics reports that since the Medicaid Performance Bonus was enacted, an additional 1.2 million children have been added to health insurance rolls around the U.S. At the same time, the Colorado Health Foundation’s 2010 Health Report Card indicated that while the trend is also positive for the Centennial State, in terms of getting its children insured, Colorado still ranks 44th in the U.S., with 105,000 of its children without health insurance.
Boulder County Housing and Human Services Director Frank Alexander stresses that while he is happy to see the federal recognition of Colorado’s and Boulder County’s efforts to turn this around, much work remains to be done. “It’s heartening to know that our proactive, preventive approach to connecting those in need in our community with services is working,” Alexander says. “But we still have large numbers of uninsured children and families who need to know where to go now for help, so we will continue to reach out to them in new and innovative ways.”
Boulder police: credit card theft suspects caught on film
Dec 28th
Suspects using stolen credit cards caught on security footage
Boulder police are trying to identify the male and female in the attached photos. Police believe the two were using a stolen credit card to make purchases at the King Soopers store located at 1650 30th St. in Boulder
The credit card was among items reported stolen from a vehicle in the 2800 block of Springdale Lane on Dec. 22. The victim had parked his vehicle around 9:00 p.m. on Dec. 21. When he returned to the vehicle the next morning, he found that the vehicle’s passenger window had been smashed. The suspect or suspects took the credit card, electronics and cash. 
Police are looking for the male and female captured on security video from King Soopers. Both suspects are white. The male was wearing a white T-shirt, jeans, a dark baseball cap and was carrying a red backpack. The female was wearing a white jacket, a hat with earflaps and sunglasses.
The case number is 11-16505.
Also, during the overnight hours of Dec. 27, there was a series of vehicle trespasses in which windows were smashed and items stolen from a number of vehicles in the Boulder area. Investigators haven’t determined whether the cases from last night are related to the case from Dec. 21.
To keep your valuables safe, police offer these safety tips:
- Always lock your car
- Park in well-lit areas
- Don’t leave any valuables in the car – take your cell phone, laptop, camera, iPod and cash/credit cards, etc. with you
- The trunk isn’t always safe; thieves often smash windows, enter the vehicle and pop the trunk
Anyone with information about these cases is asked to call the Boulder Police Department’s Tip Line at 303-441-1974. Those who have information but wish to remain anonymous may contact the Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or 1-800-444-3776. Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website at www.crimeshurt.com. Those submitting tips through Crime Stoppers that lead to the arrest and filing of charges on a suspect(s) may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000 from Crime Stoppers.
Dirty Laundry: the Naked Curmudgeon blasts TV reporters stupid questions
Dec 28th
Here’s what gets me.
People have been upset with bearers of bad news at least as far back as the days of Sophocles, Euripedes and Aeschylus, the writers of tragedies in which a messenger could be killed just for bringing the king some bad news.
Nowadays, we don’t kill the journalists for giving us bad news; we seem to thrive on it and demand they give us more.
Oh, every decade or so there will be complaints that newspapers just report bad news and never good news, and some newspaper will be started that proudly proclaims it will print only good news. Then it will lose money and go out of business, because people are more interested in tragic events than in happy events … unless, of course, the events happen to them.
Remember, the Greeks invented tragedies before they invented comedies. Bad news allows us to feel good about ourselves, to feel pity for the sufferers and fear that the events could happen to us and to achieve a catharsis of those emotions.
Comedies, however, make us laugh and allow us to feel smug about our happiness. Greek tragedies were about the nobility, but comedies were about common people. Then the moralists of the 16th and 17th centuries decided that the purpose of comedy was not only to amuse and entertain, but also to instruct.
So, what would you rather read about (or more likely these days, watch on TV), the latest scandals about Washington politicians, foreign nobility and Hollywood stars or the fact that the reported number of crimes went down last month?
Bad news doesn’t usually come with the admonition that we shouldn’t act this way, but have you noticed how popular TV sit-coms usually end with a moral?
When I was young, I wanted to be a newspaper reporter. I was fascinated with the challenge of gathering all the facts about a story and then writing those facts according to journalistic formulas so that the least common denominator, Everyreader, could understand them without difficulty.
However, newspaper reporters didn’t make very much money, Woodward and Bernstein hadn’t made investigative journalism fashionable yet and the epitome of TV journalism was Edward R. Murrow, not some blow-dried performer who just reads the teleprompter.
Later, whenever any argument arose about journalism, I always defended the reporters. They were doing their job. Bad things happen. People would rather hear about bad news than good news.
News reporter messes up, calls herself stupid on… by Christian_Carrion
And yet I have become extremely upset with TV reporters and their stupid questions.
Why ask an accused criminal “Did you do it?” Do you believe a criminal will suddenly confess on national TV instead of to the police? Does another denial give the audience any more insight about the story?
Why ask anyone “How do you feel?” How do you believe anybody feels after tragically losing a loved one, surviving an accident or winning the Super Bowl?
And why do journalists insist on inserting their own opinions? I have a rule of never answering a question beginning with a negative. “Don’t you feel the proposed health plan will cost the taxpayers too much money?” is a weak way to ask for someone’s opinion, because the reporter’s opinion overshadows the question and any answer.
I have always wanted to be part of an important story, just so I could counter reporters’ stupid questions.
“Did I do it? That’s a stupid question.”
“I feel like you have just asked another stupid question.”
“Don’t you feel that by asking your question that way, you are just giving your own opinion instead of asking for mine?”
And speaking of opinions, who cares what the public believes? Why do so many TV and radio shows keep asking for public opinions? A Denver morning TV “news” program once asked, “Does it seem like you have a lot of bad hair days?” Back then people actually paid money to call in their one little vote.
Why are there so many daytime talk shows? In 1961 Jackie Gleason probably started the first prime-time TV talk show when he sat down with just one guest and they simply talked. I believe Phil Donahue established the pattern of involving audiences, taking phone calls and having guests with unusual problems or stories.
Perhaps fascination with dirty laundry is nothing more than wanting to feel fear and pity for the catharsis, being able to feel smug at the absurdity of other people’s lives and watching tragedies about the common folk for a change.
I rest my case.
The Naked Curmudgeon
Dan Culberson
