Lowenbaum Firm Shares Facts on Health Care Reform
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Dexter, Missouri - Area municipalities came together at the City of Dexter Municipal building on Friday afternoon in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the impending effects of health care reform for employers. The featured speaker for the event was Dannae Delano, an attorney with The Lowenbaum Partnership in St. Louis, who has considerable experience with helping employer’s comply with health care reform.
The municipal building was a full capacity with area attendees traveling in from as far as Poplar Bluff and Charleston to explore their way through this complicated subject.
Ivan L. Schrader of Lowenbaum opened up the session with a brief overview of the program and an introduction of his colleague. Both attorneys encouraged the audience to ask questions on the subject because “compliance with the requirements that are effective in 2014 is complicated and very fact specific.”
"Compliance with the changes effective in 2014 requires tracking hours for full and part-time employees, as defined by the regulations, and an employer can choose to use a look-back period of up to 12 months," noted Ms. Delano. “Consequently, an employer may have needed to begin tracking January 1, 2013to utilize the full 12-monthperiod, but can utilize a 6-month look-back period if they begin tracking hours July 1, 2013.”
The primary focus of the presentation was compliance with the “Play or Pay” rules. Simply stated, employers of more than 50 full-time or full-time equivalent employees will be required to offer health coverage that is both affordable and provides minimum value to their full-time employees and those employees’ dependents, or will be penalized.
By definition, a full-time employee works an average of thirty hours or more each week. Many employers are finding that they must adjust their definitions of full-time employee to comply with the law.
The preparation for the health care reform requirements effective in 2014 are very important to your business operations for the coming year. All employers can expect the following, amongst other changes:
- Federal and State Healthcare Exchanges will be implemented
- Employers must determine whether to “Play or Pay”
- There will be no more pre-existing conditions limitations for health coverage
- No longer than a 90-day waiting period for the date of hire will be allowed before coverage must be available to full-time employees
- Cost sharing is capped and no annual or lifetime limits on coverage are allowed
- Adult dependent children must be eligible for coverage until age 26
- Wellness benefits and rewards limitations will increase and may be more utilized by employers
Unlike most other laws applicable to employee benefits, there are few exceptions for employer, and governmental employers, non-profits and religious-based employers must comply with the health care reform requirements..
Governmental employers were urged to begin planning for compliance immediately, as ordinances may need to be amended to comply.
Ms. Delano will be conducting webinars this upcoming week, and more information can be found here.
Special Thanks ... To Dexter's City Administrator Mark Stidham and City Clerk Crystal Bishop for their efforts in arranging the seminar for area municipalities.
Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Writer
Dexter, Missouri – The Rotary Club of Dexter met for their noon meeting. Danny Talkington, 1st District Commissioner introduced the sheriff of Stoddard County, Carl Hefner.
His topic was basically “What Happens When We Go Out of the Country” as he discussed his recent trip overseas. “Thank you for having me here today,” he stated, “It was quite an experience for me on my vacation.”
He noted that he and a few friends traveled on the Queen Elizabeth II from New York and took the same route as the Titanic did over 100 years ago, but in reverse of course. They even went over the exact spot where the Titanic lays at the bottom of the ocean.
They traveled England; saw Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard, which takes a couple of hours and is performed daily. “You have to be extremely aware of your surroundings while in that crowd. People picking pockets and steeling your wallets happens to be how many make a living there. They steel from the tourists.”
He continued by stating he never saw much law enforcement and if he did they were walking. They carry no firearms. While there he was in a department store and a man started screaming at another customer and then him. The girls working quickly ducked behind a counter. “It was kind of scary,” he said. “It seemed he screamed forever before a manager came over to find out the problem and even longer before they took him away.”“At 2 pm daily the entire country shuts down to have tea and the American dollar isn’t worth much at all. People love the USA and want to come to America,” he stated.
William Wallace is still a national hero in Scotland and in September of 2014 the Scottish people will vote to become independent and break away from England.
Sheriff Hefner spoke of how the airport security was definitely more difficult to get through as he was “strip” searched four times down to his underwear. They even rubbed litmus like paper over his body to see if he had been around explosives. He almost missed his flight home and the tickets of course were non-refundable!
He then changed subjects and told the Rotary they had a population of 64 offenders in the Stoddard County Jail. They only have 35 beds, so some of the incarcerated have to sleep on mats on the floor in the day rooms. The Stoddard County Jail typically processes 3,700 inmates per year. “This is still the best county in Southeast Missouri to live in and perhaps the state of Missouri,” commented Hefner.
The Rotary Club of Dexter appreciated Sheriff Hefner taking the time out of his very busy day to come and talk to them. Ken Harris, President of the local Rotary Chapter thanked Carl for his enlightening story of traveling overseas.
The Dexter Rotary Club meets each Tuesday at the American Steakhouse. Twice each month at 7:00 a.m. and twice at noon. If you would like more information or would like to join Rotary, please contact Jack Rodgers at 624-5762 or if you would like to be a guest speaker send an email to [email=jrod63841@yahoo.com.
Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Writer
Dexter, Missouri – Southeast Health hosted a Cardinals Day at Central Gardens Residential Care Facility. Heather Waddle and Tracy Hedrick’s community bible school study group of 7th graders helped with serving popcorn, nachos and beverages to the Cardinal fans!
Tracy Hedrick is also a physical therapist with Southeast Health and her partner, Krystal McGowan, put together a very nice afternoon for the more than 25 residents who attended.
Robin Stanfield, Personal Care Supervisor at Central Gardens, escorted resident after resident into the media room decked out with baseball themed decorations. Each resident received a red beaded necklace and most were wearing their Cardinal red or white shirts!After a short rain delay, Amy Ellinghouse of Southeast Health wearing her favorite Cardinal outfit popped the popcorn and cheered as the Cardinals scored their first run.
Gordan Hill, Central Gardens Resident and great grandpa to Drew Albritton, couldn’t wait for the game to get started. He is a true St. Louis Cardinal fan! Even resident Barbara Harper made her way in and clapped for the boys in red and ate her nachos.
Everyone seemed to have a great time eating and cheering for the St. Louis Cardinals as they played the Mets in New York. Drawings were held and prizes were awarded. Southeast Health graciously donated all the prizes, including Cardinal t-shirts and other Cardinal mementos. Residents didn’t go away empty handed, each was given a treat bag form Southeast Health as well to take home.
Thank you to everyone who made this a special day for the residents at Central Gardens. They appreciated the exhilarating afternoon and wonderful memories.
Submitted by
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Writer
Missouri - Gov. Jay Nixon today signed two bills into law to allow older youth who have exited foster care to return to foster care if reentry would be in the young person's best interests. The Governor signed Senate Bill 205 and Senate Bill 208 at the Boone County Courthouse, home to Missouri's 13th Judicial District. Currently, there are 356 foster children in Missouri's 13th Judicial District.
"Young people who exit foster care at age 18 without a strong support system are at greater risk of homelessness and poverty," Gov. Nixon said. "Being on your own at 18 may sound like a good idea, but sometimes older foster youth need to be able to return to that safety net to make sure they get started on the path to a healthy adulthood and successful life."
"Children in foster care deserve the same opportunities as their peers to grow up knowing that people care for them and are committed to helping them reach their full potential," said State Senator Jolie Justus, sponsor of Senate Bill 208. "I have worked with and represented many foster children in my career, and I was proud to support them again in sponsoring this legislation. I appreciate the Governor's commitment to this issue and his signing of the legislation today."
"Missouri is a state that has made tremendous strides in supporting, encouraging and providing for our older foster youth," said State Senator David Sater, sponsor of Senate Bill 205. "I was proud to put forward this legislation to continue our deep commitment to helping foster children in southwest Missouri, and all across the state, succeed. I applaud the work of Governor Nixon and my colleagues in the General Assembly to make this bipartisan legislation a reality."
Senate Bills 205 and 208 contain language raising the maximum age from 18 to 21 at which an older youth who has been released from foster care can return to foster care if reentry would be in the youth's best interests. As in current law, the petition to reenter foster care can be initiated by the Department of Social Services, the juvenile officer, or directly by the youth.
This change was among the recommendations made by a 2009 Blue Ribbon Task Force on youth aging out of foster care. Research shows that youth who remain in care beyond their 18th birthday have better outcomes than youth who are released from care when it comes to employment, health, education, incarceration and homelessness.
"When a young person exits foster care around their senior year of high school, their next steps can be difficult to navigate without someone there to point them in the right direction," said Vince Hillyer, President and CEO of Great Circle, an organization that provides treatment, education, prevention and support services to foster children. "This legislation is critical to ensuring that these young people, like most young people, have a support system that they can rely on beyond their eighteenth birthday. We applaud the Governor for his actions today and for his longstanding commitment to Missouri children and families."
"As an organization that represents 10,000 vulnerable children in Missouri and over 50 non-profit organizations who care for those children, we applaud the Governor and the Missouri General Assembly for passing this important piece of legislation," said Mary Chant, CEO of Missouri Coalition of Children's Agencies. "By extending this safety net for young people in foster care by just a few years, we can make sure they stay healthy, safe and successful as they become young adults."
Additionally, Senate Bill 205 provides assistance to older youth in foster care or a Division of Youth Services program with visiting a state university, community college, technical college or with a military services recruiter prior to the youth exiting state custody.
Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Writer
Dexter, Missouri - Students at the Southwest Elementary Summer School program learned about Flag Day this week. They crafted their own red, white and blue firecracker hats after reading the story of how our Nation’s Flag was adopted. They also wanted to commemorate tomorrow’s national day of celebration known as Flag Day.
June 14th is celebrated each year to commemorate the adoption of the flag of the United States of America, which happened in 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress. President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day and it wasn't until August of 1949 that National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.
Though Flag Day is not an official federal holiday, one state does recognize the date as a state holiday and that state is Pennsylvania.
The Boy Scouts of Dexter, Missouri will line Business 60 with American Flags to remind us what Flag Day represents to millions of Americans throughout our great nation.
Please show your respect by flying an American Flag on June 14th!
Shown in the picture are Alyssa Freeman, Alexis Forkum, Harley Malone, Nicholas Jones, Randall Beck, and Koa Mithcell.
