There has been quite a bit of discussion in the state about Health Care and the ways to reform our services. The Kansas Health Policy Authority has scheduled a Community Dialog tour to discuss the issue of health reform with Kansans across the state. The tour is scheduled for a variety of dates beginning on September 15th and ending on October 23rd and will include all-day visits to ten Kansas’s communities representing each region of our state.
A public meeting will be held at the end of each community event from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The next meeting close to us will be held at the KU School of Medicine-Wichita in the Sunflower Room #2202, 1001 N. Minneapolis Street, Wichita, 67214. For more information contact Emily Nickel 785-296-4584, or Emily.Nickel@KHPA.ks.gov.
During this meeting KHPA Board and staff members will provide a short overview of health reform, share their top priorities for 2009 and then listen to comments from the public. This is the last scheduled meeting of the KHPA that will be used to prepare for the upcoming legislative session. During these public meetings you will hear about progress within our health care system, that includes Medicaid, Healthwave, State Employee Health Plan, and our Self Insurance fund.
In 2007 the KHPA Board members and staff conducted Listening Tours across the state to hear from community leaders, faith based organizations, and consumers and gather their input on the health system in Kansas.
The Department of Health and Environment released the Kansas Health Statistic Report, #38 August 2008, in this report the number of births to foreign-born mothers was reported as on the increase nation wide. Nationally, this percentage has increased steadily from 15.6 percent of all births in 1990 to 24.2 percent of all births in 2004.
Kansas ranked 23rd among all the states, with 14 percent of all births to foreign-born mothers in 2004. In 2006, Kansas’s birth certificate data showed that 14.4 percent (6,055) of births were to foreign-born mothers. These mothers came from Mexico 57.4% of the time with the next highest reported from Viet Nam 4.2%, India 3.9%, Germany 3.7%, followed by Guatemala at 2.3% with 137 births.
The energy crisis has generated many opportunities for experts to weigh in on the topic. Millions of dollars are being made by the experts as they publish books, give speeches, conduct seminars and appear on nightly television. Kansans are not immune to all this information and if you are interested you can find a lot of opinions from any medium out there.
In a recent book, “Energy Keepers-Energy Killers” The New Civil Rights Battle, by Roy Innis, there are many interesting issues raised and addressed. The author says we need to only ask two questions about the “solutions” that the environmental alarmists offer:
1. Do these “solutions” provide more energy--or less?
2. Do they lower the cost of energy--or raise it?
The energy Americans use comes from three sources:
1. Fossil fuels-84.9%
40% from petroleum
23% from coal
23% from natural gas
2. Nuclear power—8.2%
3. Renewable fuels—7%
3.3% from bio-mass (ethanol, biodiesel, waste wood and burning garbage
35 from Hydro-electric power dams
0.3% from geothermal
0.3% from windmills
0.1% from solar and photovoltaic
Remember this is all of our energy, not just electricity or motor fuel. The “renewable fuels” wind and solar, provide less than one-half of one percent of our energy needs. If we abandon fossil fuels, then nuclear and renewable combined could supply only 15% of our needs.
The book provides an insight on the economic affect on our citizens. We are so dependent on fossil fuels, and if we were to replace this source with anything currently out there, it could take a lifetime or longer to change. A majority of the U.S. energy sector workforce, including skilled scientists and engineers, is eligible to retire within the next decade. This workforce must be replenished and trained.
Coal is a vital part of our energy reality mix it provides half of all the electricity we use. That electricity is becoming more important every year: for lighting, heating and cooling… for computers and other consumer and industrial electronics….for lasers and other medical devices that improve and safeguard our health…and as a primary energy source for numerous industrial applications. And if we are truly going to shift gradually to electric cars, we need even more electrical power. (You must charge the batteries).
The fact is power plants fueled by coal are far less polluting than 30 years ago. Just since 1998, their annual sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions have declined another 28 percent and 43 percent respectively, and new rules require large additional reductions that will eliminate most remaining emissions by 2015.
Nuclear power plants eliminated the release of 691 million tons of carbon dioxide by replacing electricity generated by coal fired plants, oil or natural gas, according to the EPA. That is equal to the carbon dioxide released from nearly all U.S. passenger cars.
I hope the above has generated some thought and discussion, please share your thoughts with me. As we approach the upcoming session these are but two of the issues that we must address. To assist me and in order to facilitate the development of good public policy, I ask for your input.
You may contact me at home 1115 Rim Rock Road, El Dorado 67042, 321-2087, or johng@carlisleinc.net, or grange@house.state.ks.us, or www.johngrange.net. I consider it an honor and privilege to represent you in Topeka and I do want to know what you think. Thanks, John.
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