Persistent drought draining Big Island residents’ wallets

This year’s exceptional drought is driving up the cost of living in the Big Island’s parched Kau desert.

Many people in the Ocean View subdivisions live removed from the county water supply system, relying instead on rainwater catchment systems.

Trouble is, there’s been precious little rain.

So residents have been forced to replenish their catchment tanks more often, some paying up to $350 a month to have water hauled from the nearest fill station, 14 miles away in Naalehu.

The final phase of a $6 million project to bring county water to the area is slated to begin this month but is not scheduled for completion until next summer.

PPACA Raises Barriers to State Single Payer Efforts – The Amazing Maze of US Health Care

Amazing seems a most appropriate word to describe the financing and delivery of health care services in the United States of America.
James L. McGee, CEBS--On Health Care Reform

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Last week’s post highlighted encouraging initiatives in several states to implement a single payer system within a single state.

This was always a daunting challenge even before health reform. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has raised the bar even higher.

ERISA and its preemption

Before PPACA a legal hurdle called the ERISA preemption severely hamstrung state health reform efforts. For those of us in the employee benefits profession, ERISA, including its preemption clause, is our bible or at least our Deuteronomy.

ERISA was passed by Congress in 1974 to regulate employee benefit plans. The preemption clause precludes states from regulating employee benefit plans. There were two exceptions to that preemption and both are instructive.

Insurance and not insurance

Under the McCarran Ferguson Act of 1945 states have the authority to regulate insurance plans. Under ERISA states still retain the right to regulate insured health plans.

After the law was passed, Congress figured out that the state of Hawaii had already established a law requiring employers to provide health insurance to their employees. I guess news travels slowly from Hawaii. Congress passed the first of many subsequent amendments to ERISA making an exception to the general preemption for Hawaii.

One reason for the preemption clause was the belief that Congress would tackle national health care reform soon and they wanted to protect that right at the national level, a theme that would reappear in PPACA.

The consequence of allowing states to only regulate “insured” health plans was the movement by many larger employers to “self-insured” plans. By taking on the risk of health insurance themselves, employers escaped the mandates imposed by state insurance departments. Companies operated in multiple states could establish uniform benefit designs for all of their employees. At least one source estimates about 43% or 53 million people with health care coverage are regulated by ERISA and not by state insurance departments.

Hawaii

When Congress exempted Hawaii from the preemption clause they only exempted the Hawaii law as it existed in 1974. Employers have since discovered the loopholes in Hawaii law for part time employees and contract employees. Now, even though Hawaii has always had the lowest rate of uninsured in the country, that number is increasing as more and more employers exploit that loophole.

The ERISA preemption prevents efforts by state to expand coverage by requiring employers to offer health insurance.  Instead they are confined to a hodgepodge of confusing and complicated programs to expand state Medicaid insurance programs or offer subsidies to small employers.

Obama blocks states?

The PPACA does not make it easier for state single payer advocates.  The Obama Administration vigorously opposed bipartisan efforts in the House Education and Labor Committee to give states more latitude as laboratories for reform.

Photo Credit:  Maui-Tropica

Please Click Here to Read the Complete Article on Health Care Reform by Jim McGee » The Amazing Maze of US Health Care »

Navy pursuing biofuel

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Hawaiian sugar grower working on crops to fuel ships, planes.

HONOLULU — The federal government has turned to a 130-year-old Hawaii sugar grower for help in powering the Navy and weaning the nation off a heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

It will spend at least $10 million over the next five years to fund research and development at Maui cane fields for crops capable of fueling Navy fighter jets and ships. The project also may provide farmers in other warm climates with a model for harvesting their biofuel crops.

Hawaii has become a key federal laboratory for biofuels because of its dependence on imported oil as well as its great weather for growing crops. Factor in the heavy military presence at places such as Pearl Harbor, and the islands become an ideal site for the government to test biofuel ideas on a commercial scale.

“Hawaii is kind of the perfect storm of opportunity,” said Tom Hicks, the Navy’s deputy assistant secretary for energy.

Big Island farmers could get federal disaster loans

Big Island farmers are eligible for federal relief loans due to diminishing crop harvest caused by volcanic gasses.

U.S. Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved a disaster designation for the Big Island.

Farmers, ranchers and plant producers may seek low-interest emergency loans to help them increase production and restore lost crops.

Plant life growth is stunted by more than 2,000 metric tons of daily sulfur dioxide spewed from Kilauea volcano.

Big Island farmers could get federal disaster loans – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

Rural Hawaii to be Heard

Hawaii Rural Development Council News Release

As a part of a nation-wide movement, a rural community-improvement council is asking Molokai’s mana`o for how to increase economic opportunities.

The Hawaii Rural Development Council (HRDC) seeks your input, concerns, success stories, and ideas on issues related to rural communities in Hawaii. State Rural Development Councils nationwide are gathering input to be presented to Partners for Rural America and the USDA. This is an opportunity for Hawaii to voice our concerns and successes locally to build on a national action plan to promote enhance rural development strategies.

Judge Bars Genetically Modified Sugar Beets

A federal judge issued a ban Friday on any future planting of genetically modified sugar beets, potentially imperiling nearly all of the United States crop.

Judge Jeffrey S. White of United States District Court in San Francisco ruled that the Department of Agriculture had failed to conduct a required environmental impact statement before approving the genetically modified beets. Such beets now account for about 95 percent of the nation’s sugar beet production and nearly half of the sugar produced.

It is unclear how quickly the Department of Agriculture could complete the environmental study and reconsider approval of the genetically engineered beets. The environmental groups that brought the lawsuit argued that genetically modified beets would contaminate unmodified crops grown nearby by organic farmers and others who chose to plant conventional seeds.

Sugar beet growers sold the 2007-8 crop for about $1.335 billion, according to U.S.D.A. data.

Judge Bars Genetically Modified Sugar Beets – NYTimes.com

Miriam Momi Jacintho Deceased

Miriam Momi Jacintho, 65, of Kula, Maui, passed away on August 13, 2010, at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Visitation will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, on Saturday, August 28, 2010, at St. Anthony Catholic Church; Mass will begin in 12:00 noon; Burial will follow Mass, at 1:30 p.m., at Holy Ghost Cemetery in Kula.

Ballard Family Mortuary is assisting with the arrangements.

Miriam was born on July 25, 1945, in Honolulu. She is predeceased by her Sons, Ronald Jacintho, Jr., Jaron Jacintho; Survived by her Husband, Ronald Jacintho; Son, Matthew Jacintho; Daughter, Mirissa Fernandez; Daughter-In-Law, Jamie Jacintho; Brother, Lou (Debbie) McKee; Grandchildren, Natasha Jacintho, Chance Jacintho, Healani Fernandez, Ronald Keahi Jacintho, Kapua Fernandez, Seth Fernandez, and Jayla Grace Fernandez.

She was the Vice-President at Rojac Trucking.

Miriam Momi Jacintho, 65 – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

ML Macadamia loses $118,000 in quarter

ML Macadamia Orchards LP said today its loss narrowed in the second quarter to $118,000 from $291,000 in what is usually one of the year’s lowest harvest periods.

There was no harvest and there were no macadamia nut sales for the three months ended June 30.

Revenue fell 38.9 percent to $626,000 from $1 million a year ago.

ML Macadamia loses $118,000 in quarter – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

Farmers protest BT eggplant testing

BAGUIO CITY — Farmers groups have protested the field testing of genetically modified (GM) eggplants in the Philippines.

Known as the Philippine Fruit and Shoot Borer (FSB) resistant eggplants (Bt brinjal) or Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant, the Department of Agriculture has started multi-location field testing prior to commercialization. This is an eggplant that was embedded with Bacillus thuringiensis to make it resistant to the fruit and shoot borers.

The people of India where the Bt brinjal originated were successful in pressuring their government to issue a moratorium for the commercialization of Bt-eggplant. A French scientific study slammed the commercialization of Bt brinjal, heating up the controversy over the biotech crop’s safety. Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Ltd (Mahyco) developed the genetically modified eggplant. Mahyco is the Indian partner of US biotech giant Monsanto.

A study team led by Caen University professor Gilles-Eric Seralini of the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering has not only branded Bt brinjal “unsafe for human consumption” but also raised serious doubts on safety data presented by developers Mahyco to the government.