Globe Shamir remembered Late Israeli PM stood firm on no concessions
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JULY 5, 2012 tammuz 15, 5772
Vol. 56, No. 8
Pittsburgh, PA
Mega Mission memories
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Jewish providers: Medicaid expansion top question after health care ruling BY TOBY TABACHNICK Staff Writer
Yosef Adest photo
Pittsburghers were treated to a private reception at an Israel Defense Forces base with a special performance by famous Israeli singer Einat Sarouf along with the base’s soldiers. See photos, page 5.
From family tree to Tel Aviv kitchen, mission made lasting impact BY JUSTIN JACOBS Chronicle Correspondent
On the last night of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Israel Centennial Mega Mission, the participants gathered by the sea in Tel Aviv to say goodbye. Enjoying dinner outside of their hotel, they ate, drank and talked as the sun set over the Mediterranean, filling the water and sky with a soft orange glow. The setting had all the makings of a party, but the mood was subdued. It was time to go home. But each participant, whether they were making their first trip or their 21st, knew this one was
something special. Any trip takes planning — numbers and logistics and maps and reservations. But for the Mega Mission, which just returned to Pittsburgh late last week, the planning was staggering: nearly 300 people, eight days, six buses. “This mission was like planning a different wedding every day for 10 days, each with 300 guests,” said Becca Hurowitz, Centennial Mission manager. “All that planning and envisioning and dreaming is gone,” she said. “You get to the moment and you’re so anxious, you need to tell yourself to step back and enjoy it. You get to the last night, and you
just don’t want it to end.” Looking back on the trip, which wound all over Israel from June 19 to 28, the 290 Pittsburghers won’t remember the logistics. It’s the stories and the memories that will last. ••• Few stories carry as much weight as Paul Fireman’s. He joined the mission for his family — most of whom he didn’t know. While Fireman wanted to give his kids, Annah and Leah, a taste of Israel, he felt ecstatic to connect with an entire branch of his family tree that he had never met. Sitting at a table by the sea, after his Please see Mission, page 9.
While the heads of local Jewish service agencies breathed a collective sigh of relief last Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the bulk of the Obama administration’s health care overhaul, some remained concerned that many of the poorest in the community might still be left without health insurance. At issue is the expanded Medicaid provision, which the Supreme Court affectively held is optional for states. Under the original Affordable Care Act, which was challenged by 26 states including Pennsylvania, states would get additional federal money if they expanded Medicaid to include more people. The federal government would pay all of the cost of expanded coverage for three years, and then gradually reduce the federal share to 90 percent in 2020. States choosing not to expand would lose all of their federal Medicaid funding. The Supreme Court struck down that provision, allowing states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion without suffering a penalty. But the ruling could leave many people whose family income is between 100 percent and 133 percent of the poverty level without health care coverage. If a state opts not to expand its Medicaid program, these families will make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to qualify for subsidized coverage through health exchanges. “I have some concern about how the Medicaid provisions will roll out,” said Susan Friedberg Kalson, CEO of the Squirrel Hill Health Center, which provides affordable health care to the community at large and is funded, in part, Please see Health care, page 15.
B USINES S 12/C L AS SIFIED 11/O BITUARIES 14 O PINION 6/R EAL E STATE 13/S IMCHAS 10
Times To Remember
KINDLE SABBATH CANDLES: 8:35 p.m. DST. SABBATH ENDS: 9:42 p.m. DST.