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Trafficway bids come in lower than expected
Creativity in every corner
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Work expected to begin next month By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
A batch of low bids has the South Lawrence Trafficway on track to be completed by late 2016, and the company set to complete it is a Columbia, Mo.-based construction firm. The bypass project, which has been in various stages of development and legal disputes for more than 25 years, cleared another major hurdle Wednesday as construction bids came in well below estimates. “They didn’t blow the budget, that’s for sure,� said Jonathan Marburger, project manager for the Kansas Department of Transportation. Columbia-based Emery Sapp & Sons Inc. Please see SLT, page 2A
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photos
KANSAS UNIVERSITY SENIOR CHELSI GOFORTH, a textiles major, prepares a loom for weaving on Wednesday at the School of the Arts. At top, from left, KU senior Skyla McCollum pours liquid metal to be used for making jewelry. To her left is Lin Stanionis, professor of metalsmithing and jewelry; KU senior Allie Varas uses a file to sculpt a ring; and ceramics major Tara Springer works on a sculpture.
Commissioner to respond to GOP LMH bracing for cuts from health reform claims about Under the Affordable Care Act, Common Core Lawrence Memorial Hospital will not
By Giles Bruce
gbruce@ljworld.com
With a major piece of the Affordable Care Act set to go into effect in less than two weeks, Lawrence Memorial Hospital is bracing for cuts in revenue resulting from the 2010 law and the state of Kansas’ subsequent decision to not participate in its Medicaid expansion. During negotiations over the legislation, hospital associations agreed to reduce Medicare payments to help fund the increase in insured Americans, with the planned Medicaid expansion expected to make up for some of that lost revenue. However, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that states could opt out of loosening their Medicaid eligibility re-
get its annual Medicare reimbursement increase in 2014, projected at about $2.7 million, CEO Gene Meyer, right, said. Meanwhile, if Kansas had expanded its Medicaid program, the hospital would have received an additional $1.1 million in revenue.
quirements, several, including Kansas, did. So under the Affordable Care Act, Lawrence Memorial Hospital will not get its annual Medicare reimbursement increase in 2014, projected at about $2.7 million, CEO Gene Meyer said at Wednesday’s LMH Board of Trustees meeting. Meanwhile, if Kansas had expand-
Kansas Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker plans to send what she described as a “friendly� letter to the state Republican Party this week, correcting what she and other education leaders are calling misinformation that the party is circulating about the Common Core Standards for reading and math. That letter will be in response to a resolution that the Kansas GOP state committee adopted last weekend DeBacker calling for Kansas to withdraw from the Common Core Standards. “We saw the resolution about education in Kansas,� DeBacker said following Wednesday’s State Board of Education meeting,
Please see LMH, page 2A
Please see CORE, page 2A
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ed its Medicaid program, the hospital would have received an additional $1.1 million in revenue. “The numbers are going to be real next year,� Meyer said. “The rate of increase we’re not going to get is significant.� Another worry for LMH is that the cheapest plan being sold on the online health in-
surance exchange in Kansas, the bronze plan — there are also silver, gold and platinum versions — pays only 60 percent of costs, with the remaining 40 percent left to the patient. “We’ve got folks who are going to choose this plan because of the low premium. Their ability to make up that 40 percent difference may be suspect,â€? Meyer said. “We’re very concerned about that from a ‌ financial standpoint about what that will do to our (accounts receivable) and bad debt activities.â€? Still, he said, many people remain uninformed about the insurance exchanges, which begin open enrollment Oct. 1, and said the penalty for not having health insurance next
Low: 62
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By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com
Regents: no quid pro quo
Vol.155/No.262 20 pages
The Kansas Board of Regents will seek restoration of higher-education budget cuts, but backed off a proposal to keep university tuition flat in return for the state funding. Page 3A
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