Surprise Ex-Im Bank revival miffs Tea Party, pleases Boeing
Everett girls win Bru-Gull Fest 50-34 C1
A7 SATURDAY, 12.05.2015
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Kaiser to acquire Group Health The California company plans to invest $1 billion in Washington over the next decade By Dan Catchpole
Group Health’s 590,000 members in Washington, including about 54,000 people in Snohomish County, won’t see much change in care from doctors and nurses if the deal goes through, said Dr. Chris Cable, the nonprofit’s medical director for its clinics. The nonprofit group sought out a buyer to keep costs down and support future growth, he said.
Herald Writer
SEATTLE — Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative is joining a nationwide frenzy of mergers, acquisitions and consolidations in health care. The healthcare provider is being bought by health insurance giant Kaiser Permanente, Group Health officials said Friday.
However, many health insurance industry watchers and regulators say past consolidations usually raise prices for customers. Kaiser Permanente has said it plans to put money into Group Health and keep down costs for customers here. The Oakland, California-based nonprofit company has about 10.2 million members in eight states and
Washington, D.C., including more than 520,000 in Washington and Oregon. Group Health’s voting members and insurance regulators must sign off on the deal, a process which could take more than a year. After that, Group Health would become a new, eighth region of Kaiser Permanente. The cooperative’s members likely will vote on the deal in
A split second that lasts forever
late winter or early spring, Cable said. To cast a ballot, members must have already registered to vote. The deal would change Group Health’s ownership structure, Cable said. As a cooperative, its members are the owners. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals is a nonprofit See KAISER, Page A5
Habitual thief is sentenced to 6 years The Everett woman stole money from her employers in Everett, Monroe and Woodinville. By Diana Hefley Herald Writer
See ACCIDENT, Page A2
See THIEF, Page A2
Mill worker shares cautionary tale of the accident that took his arm By Eric Stevick Herald Writer
EVERETT — The diesel mechanics and precision machining students could relate to the 30-something mill worker who appeared before them with gold-colored earrings and closecropped hair beneath his ball cap. They laughed when he told them he’s just “a mill-billy” with two left feet who knew there was
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no escaping an invitation to a father-daughter ball. They nodded when he talked about seeing his son’s determined smirk in the batter’s box. And they watched and listened intently as he unscrewed the claw that serves as his left hand and explained how he lost his arm in a lumber mill accident more than 15 years ago. On days off from his Longview paper mill job, Matt Pomerinke crisscrosses the state, talking
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to young students and workers about safety on the job site. He does so through a state Department of Labor and Industries program aimed at reaching the 16- to 24-year-old demographic. Young people have up to twice the work-related injury rates of other ages. Last week, Pomerinke returned to the Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center south of Everett for the second time in a month to talk with another group of students.
Opinion. . . . .A10 Sports . . . . . . . C1 Venture. . . . .A11
The Buzz: An Australian politician thinks Aussies need to be warned about travel in the U.S. For one thing, it’s really cold at Christmas. Page A2
Pouring 48/43 C12
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VOL. 115, NO. 296 © 2015 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
Ask o b A ut Our December Special!*
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DAN BATES / THE HERALD
Matt Pomerinke speaks to students at the Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center about how a worker could be seriously injured, or even lose an arm as he did, in an instant.
DAILY
Maggie Bagwell, assistant director of the skills center, said Pomerinke shares a powerful story that reaches students. “It makes a difference,” she said. “Kids remember it. It makes a huge impact.” Pomerinke was 21 when the accident occurred in January of 1999. He was young and fast and seemed invincible. That night, he was cleaning up at the end of his
EVERETT — April Laughlin is addicted to stealing. The Everett mother said she embezzled from three different employers to make people in her life happy. She tried to convince a judge Friday that she’s mended her ways and then asked to stay out of prison to raise her 9-year-old son. Last year, Laughlin stole nearly $40,000 from a family-owned Monroe business where she worked for just four months. Before getting that job she bilked $5,100 from a Woodinville company. She’d already been to prison for embezzling more than $200,000 from her previous employers, also small business owners. “I don’t know why you steal. I just know you do. I’m not going to take a chance on you,” Snohomish County Superior Court Judge George Appel said. The judge sentenced Laughlin to six years in prison. He denied her request to remain out of custody to spend the holidays with her son, citing concerns that Laughlin wouldn’t turn herself in now that she’s facing a long stretch behind bars. Appel also declined Laughlin’s request for a special sentencing alternative for parents. The alternative, a statute
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