SEASON OVER
Creston softball team falls to Winterset in postseason opener Thursday. Read more in SPORTS, page 1S.
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Obamacare Southwestern moves forward with flood repairs enrollees happy with coverage, data shows
Insurance adjuster was on campus Monday. Repairs expected to take up to six weeks. ■
By SARAH BROWN
CNA Staff reporter sbrown@crestonnews.com
Three weeks after a 4-inch water line burst at Southwestern Community College’s (SWCC) administrative building, staff are moving forward with repairs. T o m Lesan, vice president of economic Lesan development at SWCC, said the ruptured water line was an original and dated back to the 1970s. “Fortunately it was clean drinking water and there is no smell,” Lesan said. The water line, which ruptured on June 22, flooded the administrative building and destroyed carpet
CNA photo by SARAH BROWN
Georgia Paulsen, student records and veteran’s coordinator at Southwestern Community College, and other staff who work inside SWCC’s administrative building were crowded by dehumidifiers after flooding at the building in late June.
and drywall throughout the front of the building. To make the repairs, Lesan said it will cost about $20,000 to tear up the sidewalk and install new concrete, landscaping and carpet throughout the boardroom, hallway, lobby and an office of the administrative building. Lesan said the blue carpet currently in the building is being held together
with duct tape and mostly stays put. But, when there is higher traffic on the carpet, it bunches up. An insurance adjuster was at the campus Monday to survey the damage. Lesan expects the repairs to take up to six weeks. “We are waiting for the ground to settle naturally,” Lesan said. “We had a lot of rain, so the ground is
settling and looking really good.” Lesan said the flooding was discovered as staff entered the building to paint the walls on June 22 — a Sunday. Under normal circumstances, staff would not have been in the building until Monday morning. “We are lucky,” Lesan said. “It could have been much worse.”
Ringgold County Fair Days CNA photo by SARAH BROWN
Grooming: Jeff Fletchall of Mount
Ayr helps Meagan Reasoner, 15, of Mount Ayr FFA trim the hooves of her goat Callie Thursday at Ringgold County Fair.
WASHINGTON (MCT) — President Barack Obama’s health care law has reduced the number of uninsured adults by between 8 million and 11 million in its first year, according to three new studies, and the vast majority of enrollees report satisfaction with their new health plans. The studies, conducted separately by the Commonwealth Fund, the Urban Institute and the Gallup organization, used different methods to estimate the impact the Affordable Care Act has had. Each came to a similar conclusion: About 1 in 4 people who were uninsured when the law took full effect last fall now have received cover■ President age, representing a significant first step Barack Obama’s toward the law’s goal health care law of near-universal covhas reduced the erage. The largest gains number of uninin the rate of insured sured adults by have taken place between 8 milamong adults younger than 35, according to lion and 11 milthe Commonwealth lion in the first Fund and Gallup data. year. The Commonwealth Fund study, based on a survey of nearly 4,500 adults, also includes extensive data about consumer reactions to the new health plans. The study found that more than three-quarters of those who had either enrolled in Medicaid or bought a private insurance plan in one of the new marketplaces created by the law reported that they were either “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with their new coverage. About 6 in 10 said they had visited a doctor or hospital or filled a prescription using their new coverage. Nearly two-thirds of those people said they would not have been able to do that previously. More than half (58 percent) said they were better off because of their new coverage, compared with 9 percent who reported they were worse off. About 1 in 4 said the new coverage had not had an effect one way or the other. More than half (54 percent) also said that some or all of the doctors they wanted were covered by their health plans, compared with 5 percent who said the plans did not cover the doctors they wanted. About 4 in 10 said they did not yet know. Although people who identified themselves as Please see OBAMACARE, Page 2
Bill to help reduce suicides among veterans WASHINGTON (MCT) — The mother of a decorated Marine who took his life moved from grief to action Thursday as she called on Congress to do more to help stem the spike in veterans’ suicides. Susan Selke described the tragic saga of her son, Marine Corps Sgt. Clay Hunt, who died of a selfinflicted gunshot wound March 31, 2011, after having served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Not one more veteran should have to go through with the VA after returning home from war,” Selke told the House Veterans Affairs Committee. “Not one more parent should have to tes-
■ Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, reports an
average of 22 veterans are committing suicide each day. “We are failing our own,” she said.
tify before a congressional committee to compel the VA to fulfill its responsibilities to those who served and sacrificed.” Hunt, a Texas native who saw four close friends slain by enemy fire in the two wars, was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities after his discharge in April 2009. Selke later appeared outside the U.S. Capitol with lawmakers
and veterans to support legislation targeting suicides among former warriors. “Over the past seven years, VA’s mental health care staff and budget have grown by nearly 40 percent, but veterans are still committing suicide at a frightening pace,” Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the veterans affairs panel, told reporters. A measure introduced by Miller, a Florida Republican, would
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make it more difficult for the Defense Department to give a less than honorable discharge to service members diagnosed with PTSD or a traumatic brain injury. The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act would require the Pentagon and the National Guard to review mental health staffing levels in each state, and it would authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs to start a pilot program to help VA psychiatrists repay their education loans. Miller’s legislation also would require an annual independent evaluation of all mental health and suicide-prevention programs
at the Defense Department and at the Department of Veterans Affairs. “There’s nothing that unifies the American public like caring for our warriors,” said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., who served in Afghanistan as an Army National Guard command sergeant major before joining Congress in 2007. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who lost both legs after her Blackhawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq a decade ago, said suicide among veterans is an urgent crisis. Please see SUICIDES, Page 2
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