Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 122, No. 309 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
December 26, 2013
www.rdrnews.com
THURSDAY
Small changes for providers with ACA start date TESS TOWNSEND RECORD STAFF WRITER
When the Af fordable Care Act is implemented Jan. 1, do not expect a switch to flip. Low enrollment in the federal health insurance exchange means New Mexico health care providers will see a modest uptick, if any, in patient load. “I will tell you that January 1st will be anticlimactic in a meaningful sense as far as the Affordable Care Act goes,” said Stephen
Forney, vice president and chief financial of ficer of Lovelace Health System, which operates hospitals throughout New Mexico and has a campus in Roswell.
Lovelace previously offered plans on the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange, the state’s portal for the federal exchange, which of fers subsidized health plans as part the new health insurance law requiring almost all U.S. residents to obtain insurance by March 31.
Health care system experts say glitches in the exchange website have prevented many uninsured patients from registering in plans. Only 934 New Mexicans enrolled in exchange plans between open enrollment start date Oct. 1 and the end of November.
Forney said that the low enrollment, plus force of habit among patients, means wait times for Emergency Room Services should stay stable at Lovelace outside of routine fluctuations. Those accus-
tomed to using the ER for non-emergency care will probably continue to do so, he said. Roswell locations of Lovelace and La Casa Family Health Center have prepared for an influx of insured patients nonetheless by hiring new practitioners. Lovelace recently added two physicians to its roster. La Casa hopes to add four providers by the end of March, to accommodate a See CHANGES, Page A3
Lovelace Health Plan now off NM exchange rolls ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Lovelace Health Plan has been removed from the New Mexico small business insurance exchange and from the federal individual exchange.
New Mexico Superintendent of Insurance John Franchini says the
Above: Pope Francis delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the City and to the World) message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday. Right: In this picture provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday.
The health plan is being sold to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico. The sale is expected to be approved by federal regulators by year’s end.
Pope’s wish: Hope for a better world
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis of fered Christmas wishes Wednesday for a better world, praying for protection for Christians under attack, battered women and trafficked children, peace in the Middle East and Africa, and dignity for refugees fleeing misery and conflict around the globe. Francis delivered the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (Latin for “to the city and to the world”) speech from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to more than 70,000 cheering tourists, pilgrims and Romans in the square below. In his first Christmas message since being elected pontif f in March, he asked for all to share in the song of Christmas angels, “for every man or woman ... who hopes for a better world, who cares for others,” humbly. Among places ravaged by conflict, Francis singled out Syria, which saw its third Christmas during civil war; South Sudan; the Central African Republic; Nigeria; and Iraq. In Iraq on Wednesday, militants targeted Christians in two attacks, including a bomb that exploded near a church during Christmas Mass in
AP Photo
health plan was taken off the exchange Dec. 19 and of f the federal exchange Dec. 21.
Baghdad. The separate bombings killed dozens of people.
The Vatican has been trying to raise concern in the world for persecution and attacks on Christians in parts of the Middle East and Africa.
“Lord of life, protect all who are persecuted in your name,” Francis said.
Adding an off-the-cuff remark, Francis said he was also inviting nonbelievers to join their desire for peace with everyone else.
The pope also prayed that God “bless the land where you chose to come into the world and grant a favorable outcome to the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.” Francis then explained his concept of peace.
“True peace is not a balancing of opposing forces. It’s not a lovely facade which conceals conflicts and divisions,” the pope said. “Peace calls for daily commitment,” Francis said, reading the pages of his speech as they were ruffled by a chilly wind.
Francis also spoke of the lives of everyday people, especially those struggling for a better life.
Immigrants remake Ice storm leaves thousands across ‘Little Chihuahua’ US and Canada without power
SANTA FE (AP) — It’s a Sunday, and soccer games are playing silently on overhead televisions in a little eatery on Santa Fe’s south side. Mexican brass-band music known as banda is playing. Families sit at red upholstered booths lined against the wall. Children dip chips into avocado salsa as their mothers watch over them. The fathers, many in cowboy shirts and boots, sip on Mexican beers or saltrimmed micheladas, a beer -and-tomato infused cocktail similar to a bloody Mary. The cocktail’s name is a play on words, mimicking the phrase mi chela heleda, Mexican slang for “my cold beer.” Some patrons feast on appetizers of deep-fried corn tortillas topped with shredded shrimp, cucumbers and avocado prepared by Rene Contreras, a cook at Puerto Peñasco, a restaurant in a strip mall on Airport Road. Contreras is from the
northern Mexico state of Chihuahua, a 10-hour drive from Santa Fe. So, too, is his boss and many of the restaurant’s patrons. “My brother kept insisting that I should move to (Santa Fe),” Contreras says as he cooks. “He would tell me, ‘You’re going to find a lot people from our town.’ “ As immigration issues continue to roil Congress and spark debates across the country, transplants from Chihuahua have found a welcoming place in a neighborhood on Santa Fe’s south side. In fact, so many people have moved here from the region that some have come to call the Airport Road area “Little Chihuahua.” Business owners have taken notice, opening restaurants and shops that feature food and products from their home. But Little Chihuahua remains largely insular, unexplored by and unknown to most Santa See IMMIGRANTS, Page A3
HIGH 50 LOW 21
TODAY’S FORECAST
LITCHFIELD, Maine (AP) — Utility crews from Maine to Michigan and into Canada worked Wednesday to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses left in the dark by last weekend’s ice storm, and people slowly trickled out of shelters to spend Christmas Day at their finally warm homes. But not everyone was so lucky, including Ashley Walter, who was forced to spend Christmas at a shelter in a school in Litchfield with her husband, Jacob Walter, and their month-old daughter, Leah. The family lost power on Saturday, got it back and then lost it again Sunday. Ashley Walter and Leah stay warm at the shelter while Jacob Walter makes frequent trips home to check on their cats and water pipes. “It’s definitely kind of strange, but we’re hanging
• SANDRA SUE MARTIN
in there,” she said Wednesday of the challenge of being forced out of their home at Christmas. “We did our Christmas together last night. I packed little stockings and gave them to my husband, sisters and my daughter.”
The frigid temperatures that cloaked a region from the Great Lakes to New England meant that ice remained on power lines and tree limbs. Officials worried that wind gusts of more than 20 mph could bring down more branches and that 2 to 6 inches of snow in places on Thursday would hamper line crews trying to get to remote spots. “We’ve had two beautiful, sunny days in Maine, and the ice isn’t going anyplace,” Maine Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Lynette Miller said.
TODAY’S OBITUARY PAGE B4
AP Photo
Utility crews respond to a downed power line at the intersection of Dorset Street and Kennedy Drive in South Burlington, Vt., on Monday.
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6
COMICS .................B5
ENTERTAINMENT .....A8
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2 NATION ..................B4
OPINION .................A4 SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8