How the health care system spun out of control Insurance plans, fee-for-service combined to fuel staggering rise in cost of system
by
Michele Nelson
roundup staff reporter
Many patients find themselves bewildered by the swirl of medical insurance options — including Medicare, employer subsidized insurance, Part D, supplemental insurance, ObamaCare, Medicaid. The list of options has risen almost as quickly as the premiums and cost of the deductibles. Many blame the Affordable Care Act — better known as ObamaCare. However, the complexities of medical insurance have been around since its
inception. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which could cost 500,000 Arizona residents their medical insurance. But he hasn’t indicated whether he would offer any alternative to the millions likely to lose coverage. The bewildering state of the medical insurance market poses complex issues, said Peter Pitts, president and co-founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest organization and former administrator with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “One of my problems with the ACA debate, it was
masked in political sound bites,” said Pitts. The sound bites could not capture complexities of the middle-man part the insurance companies play. Pitts has spent years in the federal government regulating pharmaceutical research and the development and marketing of drugs. He offered an example of how an insurance company can drive up the cost of prescription drugs. Once a pharmaceutical company has tested a drug
• See How the medical system, page 3
ARIZONA NEWSPAPERS AND NATIONAL LOCAL MEDIA ASSOCIATIONS’ NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
PAYSON ROUNDUP TUESDAY | DECEMBER 27, 2016 | PAYSON, ARIZONA
payson.com
75 CENTS
Wet Winter
A winter storm passed through Rim Country just before Christmas, flooding streets, bogging down traffic and interrupting a relatively dry fall. Photographer DJ Craig captured some of the soggy side effects of that storm. The forecast called for a couple of inches of snow in Payson on Christmas Eve and on into Christmas Day. But thanks to holiday deadlines and our desire to give our employees a day off for Christmas, we printed this paper on Friday. But don’t worry, we’ll bring you photos of the winter storm and our White Christmas online and in next Friday’s paper — just in time for the early deadlines for New Year!
Gila County OKs $525,000 in employee raises by
Teresa McQuerrey
“The county attorney’s office has been especially aggressive in requesting autopsies.”
roundup staff reporter
The Gila County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 20 approved $525,000 in raises for county employees. Outgoing County Manager Don McDaniel said, “Gila County employees continue to provide dedicated, high-quality service to the citizens of Gila County. In many cases, new and increased services have been provided without additional staff.” All active, full-time and part-time employees hired on or before June 1, 2016 would get the raise, which would show up on the Jan. 13 paycheck. The FY 2016/2017 Adopted Budget authoriz-
Mike Pastor
Gila County supervisor
es 634.19 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees, which is a nearly 10 percent decline from the number of employees the county had six years ago.
The raise amounts to about 2 percent for most employees, which is in line with the FY2016-17 budget. County workers went several years without a raise before getting a small lump sum increase in 2012. The county then did a salary study and came up with a formula to give raises to workers if their evaluation scores met certain criteria, McDaniel said. “These pay increases are a way to recognize the county’s most important asset, its employees. There are sufficient funds in the coffers to provide for the raises,” he said. The other “big ticket” item was on the consent agenda and pulled off for discussion at the request of Supervisor John Marcanti.
The issue would have provided a $160,000 increase from $95,000 for the contract with Mark A. Fischione, M.D., PLC, for medical examiner services, resulting in a new contract amount of $255,000 for July 2016-July 2017. Marcanti suggested postponing the action on the huge increase until the two new supervisors — Woody Cline and Tim Humphrey — take their seats in January. “The contract was $30,000 a year for five years and now it is going to be a quarter of million. Information from the Gila County sheriff’s office on how many autopsies are done and any other department involved should be obtained
• See County supervisors, page 3
Payson faces lawsuit after death in motorcycle chase Father blames officer, but town blames driver, and the friend who supplied alcohol
by
Alexis Bechman
roundup staff reporter
A father continues to pursue a lawsuit against Payson for negligence after his son was killed in a motorcycle crash during a police chase. Chase Breyette, 20, died Sept. 5, 2015 on a dark street in Payson while fleeing a Payson police officer. Chase’s father, Edward Breyette, has filed a lawsuit claiming Payson Officer Tyler Forsberg acted with “gross negligence” when he pursued Chase down McLane Road at an “excessive rate of speed,”
violating the department’s policies and procedures and resulting in Chase’s wrongful death. Judge Gary Scales has set a trial date for the civil case on Nov. 9, 2017 in Globe. On that September night, Forsberg spotted Chase heading down McLane on a motorcycle. Chase had reportedly been drinking with friends, including Ryan Brown, earlier that night, according to police reports. Leaving Rumsey Park after checking on a call, Forsberg stopped at the entrance of Rumsey Park
Big fuss but very little change Controversial Common Core standards tweaked tured a guess, I would say at least 95 percent of the standards are the Touting the new Arizona English same.” The group Arizona School Choice Language Arts and Mathematics agreed with Wyman — and they’re Standards as the cure for Common hopping mad. Core, State Superintendent Diane “Both Superintendent Douglas Douglas recently announced the adopand Governor Ducey tion of new standards. were elected to stop “These new stanCommon Core, yet by dards represent “We may decide to call their recent actions in the final step in the them something new ‘rebranding Common repeal and replaceCore’ a second time and politically they ment of Common Core in Arizona and they may become acceptable, clearly shows they reflect the thoughts but they are still pretty never had any intention to stop Common and recommendaCore,” wrote the much the same stantions of thousands group. “Attempting of Arizona citizens,” dards that have been to put lipstick on the said Superintendent around for 30 years.” Common Core pig, Douglas in a press Greg Wyman adding a hat to try release. and disguise it along PUSD superintendent Only thing is — not with a scarf, will not much changed. fool parents that this Oh, yeah: Kids will have to learn is still the ‘Common Core pig.’” cursive handwriting. The group accused Douglas and “I do not know the specific percentDucey of not taking parent input into age of change, but it was minimal,” said Payson Unified School District account. Yet Douglas said her staff listened Superintendent Greg Wyman. “If I venbefore and after putting out the first by
Michele Nelson
roundup staff reporter
THE WEATHER
volume 26, no. 103
Outlook: Expected to be sunny through the week with highs in the mid 50s and overnight lows in the lower 30s. Pollen count in the medium range with juniper being the top allergen.
See our ad and upcoming events on page 12
draft of the new standards. Her staff and the State Board of Educators worked together to gather more than 10,000 comments from the public. Wyman said the whole process is nothing new to him. “I believe I have gone through four different sets of standards,” he said. “As I have said before, this debate and the resulting change will have little to no impact on school districts ... we may decide to call them something new and politically they may become acceptable, but they are still pretty much the same standards that have been around for 30 years.” The crux of the debate seems to focus on how to teach the standards. A well-known critic of the Common Core math standards, Dr. James Milgram, said, “I have found that almost half of the [math] standards I looked at were not really standards at all, but description of the kind of pedagogy (teaching methods) that ‘should be’ employed in covering certain topics. “Additionally, almost without exception, there is no reproducible research that shows these pedagogy (teaching) methods actually work by improving student understanding.” Wyman said the new Arizona standards did affect the timing of when certain standards are taught. How and when curriculum was
• See Common Core, page 2
before pulling out onto North McLane and heading up to Airport and over to the Beeline to check on another call. Chase passed him on McLane and Forsberg pulled out behind him. He later told investigators he had no intention to pull Chase over at that time. However, as Chase approached West Forest Drive, Chase reportedly sped up. Forsberg said he tried to catch up to pace Chase’s speed, but Chase just went faster.
• See Payson faces lawsuit, page 3
Star Valley seeks councilor, fills two SLE board slots by
Teresa McQuerrey
roundup staff reporter
Star Valley voters who have lived in the community for at least a year and are 18 or older can apply for a spot on the town council by 5 p.m., Monday, Jan. 2. Town Manager Tim Grier told the council at its Dec. 20 meeting it must appoint someone to fill the vacancy created by the death of Councilor Paty Henderson,who died on Dec. 9 after a brief illness. Grier said if the council doesn’t appoint someone to fill the seat within 30 days, Star Valley must hold a special election — which would cost $7,235. The person appointed would serve out the rest of Henderson’s term, which ends in 2018. They would then have to seek formal election if they wanted to continue on the council. Submit a letter of interest to Star Valley Town Hall, 3675 E. Hwy. 260, Star Valley, AZ 85541 prior to 5 p.m., Monday, Jan 2. Applicants are encouraged to attend the council meeting at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 3 at the town hall.
Ted Pettet
Other appointments John Cline The council on Dec. 20 also appointed two representatives to the Rim Country Educational Alliance Separate Legal Entity, tasked with building a four-year university in Payson. The council named Jon Cline to a five-year term and Ted Pettet to a three-year term. Cline most recently had been appointed to fill in for a board member who resigned. Pettet will replace Laura Bartlett. The council approved both unanimously, with Mayor Ronnie McDaniel recusing himself from Pettet’s appointment due to their close association of many years.