Courier View PIKES PEAK 2.6.13
Pikes Peak
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 6
February 6, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourtellercountynews.com
Officials respond to Jamison’s resignation By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com
Pikes Peak Regional Hospital and Surgery Center opened in Oct. 2007. Courtesy photo
Buckner talks reform By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com As Teller County residents toss around invectives or praise about the Affordable Care Act, Terry Buckner, chief executive officer of Pikes Peak Regional Hospital and Surgery Center, has actually read the 2,000plus page bill. “I used to have it sitting on my desk if anybody wanted a copy of it,” said Buckner,
The Affordable Care Act goes into effect in 2014 “We are going through what could be the most profound change in the delivery of health care since Medicare,” said Terry Buckner, the new chief executive officer of Pikes Peak Hospital and Surgery Center. “How that’s going to work nobody really knows.” However, in the second phase of the Affordable Care Act, the potential to reduce the overall expenditures for health care is actually there once you get insurance for everybody, Buckner added. Under the new law, states are required to implement health-care exchanges which, in Buckner’s view, will function according to the capitalistic system. “Markets will react to the fact that more Americans will now have health insurance,” he said. “With health-care exchanges, available for consumers via the computer, companies that offer the lowest prices will, in general, reap the benefits. The markets will even out.” Along with the exchanges, physicians and hospitals will be required to maintain electronic records that funnel up to a super computer, a health-information network, the technology funded, in part, by the stimulus package. “Push a magic button and health records appear,” Buckner said. Another provision is the implementation of the “Medical Home,” where the primary care doctor manages all health care for patient. “It’s the most fascinating time in health care,” he said.
who held the same position at Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center. With the Supreme Court decision in June approving the mandate that all citizens buy health insurance, the ruling left open the option for states to expand Medicaid. “That puts us Terry Buckner in an interesting situation, because we’ve got about eight redneck states that hate Obama with a passion,” Buckner said. Oklahoma, Buckner’s native state, is one of the eight to reject the benefit of the federal government covering 100 percent of the costs for the first two years for new enrollees. “Gov. (Mary) Fallin says she doesn’t want to increase the federal deficit; but what about the deduction for interest on home mortgages? Same concept. The expansion is out there and Oklahoma should take advantage of it,” he said. “This is one of the worst public policies I’ve seen. If you live in Oklahoma you pay your federal tax anyway, part of which goes for health care for the working poor.” Speaking to the urban legend that views “Obamacare” as a gift to the lazy, the nonproductive, Buckner reacts. “This expansion is for the guy trying to support a family on $30,000 a year and there’s no coverage anywhere. That’s what this is for, trying to help people get insurance,” he said. “Oh, I get mad over what people say about it.” While all hospitals are required to treat emergency-room patients, for the uncompensated care hospitals receive additional payments through Medicare. “They call it `disproportionate-share payment’ which goes on top of the Medicare rates,” Buckner said. “Every check we get from Medicare is shortened, and it’s not a whole lot, goes into the fund. People don’t realize that hospitals have been paying into a fund for two years to help start funding the `Obamacare’ stuff.” In Oklahoma, however, hospitals lose their disproportionate share. “And the poor people who are supposed to get the care don’t get it. So the state gets hit twice. I could understand it, wouldn’t agree with it, if their federal taxes were to go down, but they pay the exact same tax and don’t get the benefit,” he said. “I’m not saying I’m a proponent of Obamacare - but it’s the law
Publicly and verbally scourged by Teller County commissioners, in addition to being the subject of a recall initiated by the county’s Republican Party Central Committee, J.J. Jamison, clerk & recorder, resigned Jan. 28. Jamison, a Republican, was elected to office in Nov. 2010. Jamison’s troubles began 18 months before the primary election in June, when the Secretary of State’s office took over her election duties after a series of mishaps. With Al Davidson as the designated election official, Jamison was off the hot seat for a time. However, in the fall, Teller County commissioner Dave Paul went public with his censure of Jamison. In November, thencommission chair Jim Ignatius publicly berated Jamison during a commissioners’ meeting, highlighting the costs to the county as a result of the employment of Davidson and his assistant Deb Silva. As Ignatius raged, Jamison recorded the minutes. Shortly before leaving office, Ignatius exposed Jamison’s lack of attention to details, including late payment of the county’s bills to various entities, among them, the city of Woodland Park. By the end of January, Jamison had had enough. Upon receiving the resignation letter, effective Feb. 1, commissioners Paul and the recently-elected Marc Dettenrieder and Norm Steen held an emergency meeting. Paul released this statement: “We designated Chief Deputy Clerk and Recorder Krystal Brown as the acting Clerk to insure that the day-to-day operations of the office will be conducted in an orderly fashion. “Replacement of the Clerk for the remainder of the current term will be conducted over the next few weeks under conditions to be determined shortly. Our goal is to find
a suitable replacement in an expeditious and transparent manner who can provide the levels of service and responsibility that the citizens of Teller County deserve. “It is unfortunate when the plans and expectations of any elected official are curtailed by public sentiment. The time had long passed when a resignation would have been in the best interest of the taxpayers, but now that it has occurred, we will concentrate on repairing the damage and look forward to appointing an individual who can move the office forward in a positive manner.” Learning of the resignation, Pete LaBarre, chairman of the RPCC, said, “I’m pleased that Mrs. Jamison took the appropriate fiscal and moral approach to resolving the dilemma that she created.” Carolyn Fairchild, from the RPCC and a member of the recall committee, said of Jamison’s resignation: “I’m relieved that she did the right thing by stepping down and saving the taxpayers the cost and aggravation of a recall. I’m also saddened; I like J.J. and hoped she would have been able to step up to the plate and be the clerk and recorder the citizens elected. But I’m glad it’s over.” Laurie Glauth, chairman of the Teller County Democrats and a member of the recall committee, agreed with LaBarre and Fairchild. “J.J.’s resigning was the right thing to do; it’s unfortunate that it had to come to the point of a recall but her resignation restores integrity to the office,” Glauth said. “It is an issue of integrity and trusting in the process; this is an example that the process does work. Her resignation is the best thing for the county and the taxpayers.” In a press release to the newspaper, Scott Glessler, the Secretary of State, states: “Teller County residents deserve honest and fair elections. We will continue to work with the new clerk and recorder during this transition to achieve this goal.”
WPHS sophomore dies in traffic accident By Norma Engelberg
nengelberg@ourcoloradonews.com Woodland Park High School students are reeling from the loss of a classmate in an early morning accident on Feb. 1. Sophomore Kevin McDonald, 15, was killed in a two-vehicle accident that happened in the intersection in front of Pikes Peak Regional Hospital.
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The Woodland Park School District community has responded to the loss of a 15-year-old high school student by leaving flowers and mementos at the site of the accident that took his life early Feb. 1. Photo by Norma Engelberg
Kevin McDonald’s 17-year-old brother, whose name has been withheld, was driving the 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee and younger sister Heather McDonald, 14, was also a passenger. The McDonald family lives in Divide and all three attended the high school. The accident is being investigated by Colorado State Patrol. State Trooper Josh Lewis said the second vehicle was a 2007 Lincoln Navigator that was driven by 60-year-old Laverne Benner. Benner was turning left into hospital while the McDonald vehicle was coming through the intersection. No charges have yet to be filed against the drivers involved in the collision. Woodland Park RE-2 School District provided grief counseling over the weekend and a memorial is growing at the site of the accident as students and community members leave mementos A parent information meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Woodland Park High School auditorium. A speaker from Pikes Peak Hospice will provide information on how to support a child through grief. Everyone is welcome to attend. A memorial fund for Kevin McDonald has been started at the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Woodland Park. The school district and the community are no strangers to tragedy. Last summer, three Woodland Park students died in an accident on the way home from a Boy Scout camp in Wyoming.