insurance companies

As Barack Obama’s second Presidential term winds down, what can one say about his signature domestic initiative, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare or ACA)?

Passed in 2010 by a Democrat Congress without a single Republican vote, it promised to improve health care, cut costs and assure everyone is protected by insurance. Also, numerous times, unequivocally on the public record, Obama assured us: If you like your health insurance, you can keep it; if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

None of those goals and assurances was realized. All failed.

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Our weather is improving with each passing day and as many of you have noticed, there are more and more motorcycle riders on our Carson City area roadways. This creates an additional challenge when you drive as they are much smaller and difficult to see at times.

Bernie has achieved the impossible. Verily the Grace of God has shone upon him.

He’s promising free college and free health care. 

Not to be outdone, Hillary has tried to outflank him from the left by making the same promises and more -- and, just to show how the stresses of a campaign can make people go insane, she started barking like a dog (http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/15/politics/hillary-clinton-barks-like-a-dog-...).

But imagine that. They managed to convince:
▪ College professors,
▪ College administrators,
▪ Doctors and nurses,
▪ Hospital and clinic administrators,

One deserving student veteran at Western Nevada College won’t ever forget Veterans Day 2015. For the third time in a year, WNC has donated a refurbished automobile restored by students and faculty to a community member.

It’s finally Friday with plenty of happenings to choose from. Start out with some coffee on Supervisor Bonokowski at the Cracker Box. Enjoy a free bbq lunch at Meek’s Lumber. Tea and cookies await at Browser’s Corner Book Shop to celebrate the Friends of the Carson Library’s Anniversary. Tickle your funny bone at first Fridays Improv at the Brewery Arts Center. Satisfy your craving for live music at Sassafras, Bella Fiore, or Living the Good Life. Let the theater feed your soul: Carson High School presents the Importance of Being Earnest at the Community Center.

FRIDAY:

• Nevada’s Manufacturing Month breakfast at the Governor’s Annex: 606 Mountain St. (6:30am; $35)
• Monthly ‘Breakfast with Supervisor Brad’ Bonokowski at the Cracker Box (7am; open to Carson City residents, the coffee is on Brad)

What better way is there to celebrate America’s birthday than to provide a life-changing gift to someone who has served our country in the U.S. Marines and Navy?

For the second time in seven months, Western Nevada College has worked with National Auto Body Council Executive Director Chuck Sulkala, State Farm Insurance Company, and the Recycled Rides project to donate a refurbished automobile to a deserving community member.

The public is invited to attend the presentation of a refurbished automobile to a student veteran at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 4, at Western Nevada College E.L. Cord Technology Center on the Carson City Campus. A refurbished 2006 GMC Envoy will be presented.

In association with the National Auto Body Council’s Recycled Rides project, WNC’s Auto Body Technology department repaired its second vehicle for donation to a worthy individual. And for the second time, State Farm Insurance donated a vehicle to for WNC to restore. A college committee selected the recipient.

The Storey County Fire Protection District has completed its ISO (Insurance Service Organization) Public Protection Classification Program (PPC) for fire suppression services maintaining its level 3 designation for five miles from the stations located in Virginia City, Virginia Highlands and Lockwood. In addition, the fire district has received a rating of 3 for the fire station at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRI), which was previously rated as a 10.

When I’m asked about Obamacare, I use it as an opportunity to show how much difference progressive change can make. Open enrollment began one year ago, on October 1st, 2013. The websites had a rocky rollout, but 10.3 million Americans who had no health insurance a year ago now have coverage.

The Nevada Division of Insurance announced Wednesday that it would not extend canceled health care policies because doing so would conflict with both state law and federal laws.
Here is a statement below from the Nevada Division of Insurance:

Carson City Health and Human Services is pleased to announce the success of the 2012–13 Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Community Outreach Campaign, “Beat the Flu Blues.”

The agency conducted 69 community vaccination clinics that provided more than 10,700 influenza vaccinations throughout the quad-county area of Carson City, Douglas, Lyon and Storey counties. Our local clinic provided an additional 1,259 flu vaccinations. In all, CCHHS increased the number of flu doses given during the 2012 season by 10 percent.

Carson City and nearby Douglas County as well as Esmerelda and White Pine counties have been designated disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by recent drought, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirms today in a news release.

And the following California counties contiguous to Nevada have also been declared disaster areas because of drought conditions: Alpine, El Dorado, Inyo, Mono and Placer.

CARSON CITY – Nevada policy holders recovered nearly $4 million in 2012 from insurance companies through the efforts of the Nevada Division of Insurance.
A recovery is the amount of monetary compensation or relief received by a consumer as a result of a filed consumer complaint against an insurance company. The division recovered $3,998,508.

I told you so, again and again for four years. OK, so Obama did not cancel the elections; he did one better, he put the veneer of the "will of the people" on it. Voting is the best revenge...? He never had to say, against whom.

CARSON CITY – Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley used a second Senate debate tonight to attack Sen. Dean Heller on issues ranging from Medicare to online poker legislation, while her Republican opponent took a more restrained approach in the hour-long discussion on public television.

CARSON CITY – It took all of about ten minutes for Sen. Dean Heller and Rep Shelley Berkley to mix it up in their first debate in the U.S. Senate race Thursday, criticizing each other on campaign issues ranging from ethics to Medicare to big oil subsidies.

The hour-long debate on KNPB-TV in Reno was the first chance for many voters to see the two candidates spar on the issues, most of which have already been the focus of campaign attacks in the race to date.

CARSON CITY – Democrats continue to out-register their Republican counterparts, with the latest data from Clark County now showing a more than 100,000 voter advantage as the deadline to participate in the Nov. 6 general election draws ever closer.

Today just before noon the Clark County website, which updates registration totals regularly, showed 346,703 Democrats registered to vote compared to 246,479 for Republicans, a 100,224 advantage.

SPARKS – Fresh on the heels of another disappointing jobs report, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan held a brief rally here today, telling a crowd of 2,500 at a local small business that President Obama needs to be replaced to get the country back on track.

Nicole Larrimore has been named as the new Mortgage and Marketing Coordinator for the Nevada Rural Housing Authority. The position was recently created to provide information about the NRHA’s housing assistance programs to mortgage lenders, banks, realtors, brokers, title and hazard insurance companies and prospective homebuyers. She will serve as the NRHA liaison to lenders and build relationships with the home buying and real estate community to better serve their needs.

RENO – GOP Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, at one time a resident of Las Vegas, rallied supporters for Sen. Dean Heller’s election bid today at an area nightclub.

Rubio, who earlier in the day held a rally with Heller in Las Vegas, toured a local business, the Great Basin Brewing Company, before arriving at Mambo’s next to the Atlantis hotel-casino.

Several hundred supporters turned out for the Reno event.

CARSON CITY – Nevada today affirmed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s automatic drought disaster declaration, which applies to all 17 Nevada counties.

The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation announced that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Elko Boys & Girls Club (Elko, Nev.) will both receive a $10,000 start-up grant to implement Triple Play programming. Additionally, Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows (Reno, Nev.) and Boys & Girls Club of Western Nevada (Carson, Nev.) will receive $5,000 Triple Play Healthy Habits grants to provide programming focused on teaching the importance of healthy eating habits and being physically active.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is encouraging local residents and part-time homeowners to become “wildfire aware” by taking advantage of public education activities during Lake Tahoe Wildfire Awareness Week happening May 26 to June 3.

“With the fifth anniversary of the Angora fire coming up, this is a good opportunity for our community to discuss the importance of wildfire awareness,” said Joanne Marchetta, Executive Director of TRPA.

CARSON CITY – Assembly Speaker and 3^rd Congressional District candidate John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, declined today to say whether he supports the federal health care law now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Oceguera, who is termed out of office in the Assembly, said it is premature to comment on the law given the fact that it is awaiting a decision on its constitutionality by the nation’s high court.

Reading over the coverage of the Supreme Court's oral arguments over the fate of ObamaCare, you might get the impression that the conservative-leaning court will strike this law down.

While those people on each side of the political divide will have their opinions about this, I, as a person whose profession is all about writing and words, am struck by how the future of this law seems hinged on the wording in the legislation.

The major argument against ObamaCare has to do with the requirement that everyone must buy health insurance, otherwise known as the individual mandate.

CARSON CITY – Nevada took a bold step forward today as lawmakers approved regulations allowing for the operation of self-driving vehicles on the state’s roadways.

The first in the nation regulations were approved by the Legislative Commission, and could provide for economic development opportunities in Nevada.

An agreement between Carson City and the state of Nevada, approved Thursday by the Board of Supervisors, could position the city's health department to start billing insurance companies for immu...

The state has picked Carson City to develop a pilot program designed to make insurance companies cover some of the cost of immunizations. The legislative Interim Finance Committee on Tuesday appro...

This weekend saw two more tragedies for the motorsports world with Nevada connections.

Most people have already heard about or seen the video replays of the horrific IndyCar crash in Las Vegas on Sunday that claimed the life of two-time Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon.

The same day, off-road racer Rick Huseman was killed in a plane crash in California after taking off from North Las Vegas.