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THE NEW MEXICAN Saturday, October 26, 2013
Casinos: Panel members suggest approval is likely Continued from Page A-1 Pueblo, signed on to the agreements in 2001 as they paved the way for tribal gambling statewide. The Navajos and other tribes signed the compacts later. Currently, 15 pueblo and other tribal communities are part of the agreements, and 27 gambling centers are spread around the state — from major resorts such as Buffalo Thunder in Pojoaque to travel stops such as the San Felipe Travel Center, south of Santa Fe on Interstate 25. The agreements mandate that the tribes share a portion of their slot machine revenue with the state; last year, tribes paid $757 million to the state general fund. As part of the new compact, the Navajo Nation is proposing to have five casinos in the state, up from two. The new compact, if enacted, also would change the revenue-sharing system with New Mexico. Instead of sharing the casinos’ current 8 percent net win, the tribe is proposing to share an adjusted net win that takes into account payouts to customers who play with “free play,” slot credits offered to draw casino patrons. In fiscal 2012, the Navajo Nation had a total of $64 million in net win money, a figure that would have been lower under the proposed adjustment. Under the proposed changes, a casino making $15 million would potentially share 8.5 percent of an adjusted net win, while a casino making more than $150 million would potentially share 10.75 percent by 2030. The proposed compact would expire in 2037, according to a report by the Navajo Nation presented to lawmakers. The tribe would not participate in online gambling ventures unless the state authorized Internet gaming. But officials with the Legislative Finance Committee said in a report analyzing the proposed compact that they are “concerned with the lack of access to tribal gaming data and the Legislature’s inability to independently verify the State Gaming Representative’s level of oversight and the tribes’ adherence to the compacts.” According to a Legislative Finance Committee report from May, the Gaming Control Act and tribal compacts limit “the Legislature’s ability to monitor the Gaming Control Board’s effectiveness as an oversight agency.” Also from the committee’s report, the Gaming Control Board officials said in 2012 that tribal casinos might be
manipulating the formula for net win revenue, leading the state lose out on an estimated $13 million to $20 million in revenue sharing. But the Navajo Nation’s report says it must settle “any dispute regarding revenue sharing payments before executing a new compact.” Even though there was no apparent opposition to the proposed compact by lawmakers on the panel, Sen. Steve Neville, R-Aztec, told Navajo officials that having more casinos in the state can create problems for other tribes operating casinos. “I’m just concerned we’re overdoing it,” Neville said. “If we have more and they start to feed off each other, it could be real a issue for folks. I want you to make money, and I don’t want you to hurt somebody else in the process.” According to the committee’s report, it is concerned that oversaturation “will continue as the Nation opens new casino facilities further eroding market share [with] casinos located within neighboring tribal lands.” However, Neville said he will most likely vote for the compact, and that sentiment was echoed by other lawmakers in the panel. Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, said the proposals are fair, but he wanted to know the ramifications of not renewing a compact with the Navajo Nation. Karis Begaye, an attorney with the Navajo Nation, explained that if a compact isn’t reached by the expiration date, the tribe could cease any revenue sharing with New Mexico. The National Indian Gaming Commission, a federal agency that oversees and regulates Indian gambling, could shut down Navajo-owned casinos if they are not part of a compact with the state, Begaye added. The Navajo Nation president said a casino shutdown would eliminate more than 900 jobs. “If the compact expires, this would devastate the Navajo Nation financially, as the slot lease agreements and contracts would be placed in jeopardy,” Shelly told lawmakers. The Legislature is set to consider the new compact in the upcoming 30-day legislative session, which starts Jan. 15. Contact Uriel J. Garcia at 986-3062 or ugarcia@sfnewmexican.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ujohnnyg.
From left, Legislative Finance Committee Director David Abbey speaks with state Rep. Luciano ‘Lucky’ Varela, D-Santa Fe, while Navajo Nation Council Speaker Johnny Naize addresses the committee at the Capitol on Friday. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
Contractor hired to repair health site WASHINGTON — Nearly a month into the dysfunctional rollout, the Obama administration acknowledged the wide extent of its health care website’s problems Friday and abruptly turned to a private company to oversee urgent fixes. Setting a new timetable, officials said most issues will be repaired by the end of November. It will take a lot of work, but “HealthCare.gov is fixable,” declared Jeffrey Zients, a management consultant brought in by the White House. By the end of next month, he said, there will be many fewer sign-up problems such as computer screen freezes — but he stopped short of saying problems
will completely disappear. The administration also said it is promoting one of the website contractors, a subsidiary of the nation’s largest health insurance company, to take on the role of “general contractor” shepherding the fixes. Quality Software Services Inc. — owned by a unit of UnitedHealth Group — was responsible for two components of the government’s online insurance system. One is the data hub, a linchpin that works relatively well, and the other is an accounts registration feature that initially froze and caused many problems. The Associated Press
Health: Experts expect shopping trend to grow Continued from Page A-1 for the National Center for Policy Analysis. But he and other experts expect this trend to grow, especially as more companies offer insurance plans that require employees to pay thousands of dollars before most coverage starts. These so-called highdeductible plans also will be among the cheapest options available on the public exchanges set up as part of the health care overhaul to enable millions of uninsured people to shop for coverage. Advocates say all the shopping will help control medical spending. “We waste an enormous amount of money in this country by overpaying for health care,” says John Goodman, an economist and CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis. “The only way to get rid of waste is to have people compete in a real marketplace.” Searching for health care deals is a big change for many patients who’re used to paying whatever their insurer didn’t. Just figuring out an appropriate price for a procedure can be difficult for the average person. Surgeries and other major procedures have different prices based on a variety of factors. And the portion that patients pay can vary widely. A lot depends on the type of insurance coverage and factors like the leverage a provider has in negotiating rates. For instance, a patient in Detroit with high-deductible health coverage provided by an employer could pay $920 or $2,791 out of pocket for a colonoscopy, according to research done by health care technology firm Castlight Health. Same patient. Same insurance coverage. Only difference: Where the procedure is performed. “You can be a highly educated consumer now and still not understand what bill is going to hit you,” says Dr. Giovanni Colella, CEO of Castlight, which designs an application that insurers or employers can give to patients to help them shop for health care based on price and quality. It’s also tough for patients to measure quality versus price. “You may find something [more expensive], but it doesn’t mean it’s better, safer, or more efficient,” says Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist at NYU Langone Medical Center. Insurers and employers are
encouraging workers to become more educated. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest private U.S. employer, provides health coverage for 1.1 million employees and their dependents. It runs a voluntary Centers of Excellence program that sends people to one of six hospital systems around the U.S. for certain heart, spine and transplant surgeries at no cost to the patient. Wal-Mart spokesman Randy Hargrove says the program can save a patient between $5,000 and $10,000 in out-of-pocket costs, depending on their coverage. Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield, Alaska’s biggest health insurer, started a program in January that will pay expenses for some of its members to fly to Seattle for much cheaper procedures. For instance, a knee surgery that costs $27,100 in Alaska can be performed for $13,000 in Seattle, according to the insurer. Some patients are deal-hunting on their own. The website Medibid, which launched in 2010, connects patients who are paying out of pocket with doctors who bid to provide care. The website’s founders say they’ve helped about 1,800 people find care. Patients register with the site and pay either $25 per request or $4.95 a month for a year so they can post their medical needs on the site to solicit bids. Care providers, who register and pay fees of either $24.90 per month or about $250 annually, respond to patients with a bid. Tess St. Clair, Medibid’s chief operating officer, says the site helps people weigh their health care options: “The hardest thing for an American to do is ask the question, ‘How much will this cost?’ and get an answer.” Dr. Keith Smith, with the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, bids often on Medibid requests. Smith says the center can offer better rates than some competitors because it doesn’t charge a high facility fee like many hospitals do. The center competes on price and cuts out insurers. Smith says this approach forces it to offer good care: The center cannot hide in an insurer’s network and continue to receive patients regardless of the job it does. “If we started cutting corners and worrying about our pocketbook before doing the right thing, we’re going to lose our business,” he says.
Spying: German officials plan trip to Washington by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden as saying they showed the for intelligence-gathering, and could agency had tracked phone calls, text use the espionage dispute as leverage messages and emails of millions of against the United States in upcoming Spaniards, and spied on members of the trade talks. Spanish government and other politi“I think France and Germany would cians. want guidelines,” said Claude MoniHollande, the French president, said quet, who now directs the Brusselshis country and Germany decided to based European Strategic and Intelliseek a “framework of cooperation with gence Center. But he was dubious there the United States so that the surveilwould be much change in intelligence lance practices end. We fixed a deadline agencies’ real-world behavior. by the end of the year.” “Everyone swears on the Bible,” “They [the Americans] told us it was Moniquet said. “And after that it’s busi- in the past and now there’s a will to ness as usual.” organize things differently,” Hollande This week alone, there have been told a post-summit gathering of reportheadlines in the European press about ers. “Fine, let’s do it.” the U.S. scooping up millions of French France’s leader seemed to object telephone records and perhaps listening especially to any use of state intelliin on Merkel’s calls. A British newsgence assets to spy on innocent people paper said it obtained a confidential or to promote a nation’s trade goals or memo indicating that the personal com- companies. munications of up to 35 foreign leaders “Protection of virtual life is not just may have been subject to U.S. snooping the protection of leaders, who have in 2006. cellphones just like everyone else. It’s On Friday, Spanish Prime Minister the protection of all citizens,” Hollande Mariano Rajoy said in Brussels that he said. “The protection of personal inforhad instructed his foreign minister to mation should be guaranteed in Europe summon the U.S. ambassador in Spain and demanded of the intelligence serto obtain information on news reports vices.” that Spain has been a target of U.S. spyEconomic spying can affect markets, ing, but insisted that his government prices and mergers and acquisitions as was unaware of any cases. well as affairs of state, Hollande said. In a front-page story, Spain’s leading “It’s there that the surveillance can have newspaper El Pais cited unidentified the most consequences. … On innovation and research, there’s also surveilsources that saw documents obtained
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lance. That’s why the major French enterprises, include tech companies, are in a program to give them protection.” Merkel told a separate news conference that “what we seek is a basis for the cooperation of our [intelligence] services, which we all need and from which we all have gotten very much information … that is transparent and clear and that lives up to the character of a relationship of allies.” The chancellor said intelligence chiefs from her country and France would hold separate one-on-one discussions with the Americans, but pool information. As a first step, the heads of Germany’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies will participate in talks with the White House and the NSA, said German government spokesman Georg Streiter. He did not give a specific date for the trip to Washington, saying it was being arranged on “relatively short notice.” “What exactly is going to be regulated, how and in what form it will be negotiated and by whom, I cannot tell you right now,” Streiter told reporters. “But you will learn about it in the near future because we have created some pressure to do this speedily.” The United States already has a written intelligence-sharing agreement with Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand known as “Five Eyes.” France and Germany may be interested
in that program or a similar arrangement, but it is not clear the U.S. would agree to it. A White House National Security Council spokeswoman said Friday the Germans would be welcome in the U.S. capital, but did not address what concessions the Obama administration might make to tamp down a controversy that has soured relations with many European allies. “German officials plan to travel to Washington in coming weeks and the U.S. government looks forward to meeting with them,” said Caitlin Hayden, the spokeswoman. “We expect a range of meetings with relevant officials across the U.S. interagency, but we do not have specific meetings to announce at this point.” As they ended their Brussels summit, European leaders vowed to maintain a strong partnership with the U.S. despite the widespread shock and anger over the alleged spying. “The main thing is that we look to the future. The trans-Atlantic partnership was and is important,” said Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, whose nation holds the rotating presidency of the 28-country European Union. No European leader “wants to see a breach with the United States,” said British Prime Minister David Cameron, who unlike the leaders of Germany and France, has not objected publicly to the reported NSA actions.
Race: Webber has set up website Continued from Page A-1 1993, was sold in 2000 by thenpublisher Mort Zuckerman for $365 million, according to Forbes. Webber would be the only candidate so far who isn’t currently involved with state government. Some political observers believe that because of widespread dissatisfaction with Washington, D.C., and politics in general, the fact that Webber is an outsider — and an outsider with a business background — could be part of his appeal. “This might be an opportunity for a Democratic Gary Johnson,” said state Rep. Brian Egolf of Santa Fe, a leader of progressive Democrats in the Legislature. Johnson was a political unknown and wellheeled construction company owner in 1994 when he won the GOP nomination for governor, then went on to win two terms in office. Johnson last year split with the GOP to run as the Libertarian Party candidate for president. Egolf said Friday he doesn’t personally know Webber and that he’s not backing any candidate for governor at this point. Webber would join state Attorney General Gary King and state Sens. Linda Lopez of Albuquerque and Howie Morales of Silver City in the Democratic primary race for governor. Martinez, who is seeking a second four-year term, isn’t expected to have any serious opposition in the June primary. Martinez, whose approval ratings have been in the 60-plus percent range, already has amassed more than $3.2 million in campaign funds, dwarfing the amounts raised by King and Lopez. Morales only entered the race last week. Webber, who couldn’t be reached for comment Friday, already has set up a website on Democracy.com. On that site, Webber sounds like he’s beyond just considering a bid for the state’s top political office. “Ours is a state with much to cherish and much to love — a state with so many possibilities and so much to lose that we all need to work to build a better New Mexico,” he said on the site. “That’s why I’m announcing my candidacy for governor of New Mexico.” The website includes articles criticizing Republican incumbent Gov. Susana Martinez and her public education secretary-designate, Hanna Skandera. Webber states on the website, “I’m running for governor because our State is in trouble. When it comes to jobs and education, we’re falling behind. Other Western states are outperforming us and we’re all feeling the pain. “What the current governor is doing simply isn’t working — and it affects the lives of all of us across New Mexico. I refuse to stand by and watch it happen,” Webber said. One of his major interests is education. Webber was a speaker at the June Kids Count conference in Albuquerque, where he talked about education. He also was on an early-childhood panel when U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke in Santa Fe in September. Webber has written at least one letter to the editor published in The New Mexican, in which he criticized the local school system. But he hasn’t been especially active in state or local politics. Campaign finance records show he gave $250 to Democrat Diane Denish’s gubernatorial campaign in 2010, $100 to Los Alamos legislative candidate Stephanie Garcia Richard last year and $1,000 to congressional candidate Don Wiviott, who lost in the Democratic primary to U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján in 2008. Webber’s LinkedIn page says he currently works as a “global detective” for Webber Investigations Inc. His past experience includes working as a speechwriter for former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, who became the Democratic nominee for president in 1988. From 1978 to 1980, Webber was an editor for The Willamette Week, a Portland, Ore., newspaper owned by the same company that publishes the weekly Santa Fe Reporter. He also was an administrative assistant in the mayor’s office in Portland for six years in the ’70s. Contact Steve Terrell at sterrell@sfnewmexican. com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.