Letters to the editor
School boards play important role
To the Editor:
The month of January marks the annual observance of School Board Recognition Month — a time to salute the work of school board members and celebrate public education.
The theme of this year's celebration, "Putting Children First," reflects our combined commitment to leadership and accountability assuring that ALL children succeed.
Throughout Marion County, school board members develop policies and make tough decisions on complex educational and social issues which impact the entire community. They bear responsibility for a total annual budget of nearly $20 million, 2,200 students, and 330 employees. They carry out the truest form of representative government in our democracy and help to preserve one of our core values — volunteer service. Their service provides an example to both young and old of the need to actively participate in our community.
I invite you to recognize and celebrate the work of school board members in your district. Invite them out for coffee. Ask how you might help support your local schools. Write your school board members a thank you note. Let them know you appreciate what they do for kids in your school district.
I would like to publicly thank the men and women serving on the USD 410 Board of Education and recognize their years of service. Board members are Brent Barkman (four years), Debbie Geis (five years), Dale Klassen (two years), Rod Koons (two years), Mark Rooker (two years), Eddie Weber (four years), and Doug Weinbrenner (8 eight years).
Gordon Mohn
Superintendent USD 410
Kansas schools can do better
To The Editor,
Recently, Kansas Action for Children released the 2004 Kansas Children's Report Card which grades the state on child well-being and asked the question, "Is 'good' good enough for our children?"
For the third consecutive year the overall grade in the Kansas Children's Report Card is a B, a grade that some would say is good. However, when a child gets B's on his or her report card at school but has the capacity to get A's, we commonly say that child is an underachiever. By that measure, Kansas is an underachieving state; we have the capacity to be the best state in the nation in which to raise children, but this succession of B's tells us that we are not living up to our capacity and to the promise of opportunity for all.
Kansas can fulfill that promise by committing to common sense policies that support families. We should start by making sure that all children have access to health care and to voluntary pre-kindergarten and after-school programs. Implementing such policies requires public investment, but it is a wise investment that will pay for itself many times over.
On January 19-21, the 2004 Marion County Children's Report Card will be released by the Communities in Schools of Marion County. In those grades we will find that Marion County's efforts to improve child well-being are similar to those of the state: good, but not good enough to realize our ultimate goal.
We think that all Kansas children deserve to have the opportunity to reach their full potential, to grow and develop into productive members of a community, and to be contributing and civically engaged adults. "Good" efforts are not good enough for children in the state.
In the 1990's we did not take advantage of the great economic growth of that period to make the necessary public investments in children and families. If we are entering another period of economic growth, we ask policy-makers on the state and local level if we will now have the foresight and the will to make those investments so that our children can reach their full potential. Our kids — and the state of Kansas — deserve no less.
Gary Brunk
Kansas Action for Children
Topeka
BCBS Plan 65 Select offers choice
To the Editor:
A recent editorial in your newspaper referred to the offering of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas' Plan 65 Select product as a "raw deal." The editorial ran under the headline of "Seniors: read the fine print."
Whereas I applaud your sense of community in looking out for the senior citizens in your area, I'll ask you to look at our Plan 65 Select offering under a less suspicious eye. Our rolls are filled with senior members who love this product (more than 20,000 have selected Plan 65 Select) and are truly appreciative of the premium savings (as much as 25% from our regular Plan 65 products).
The benefits are indeed the same between a Plan 65 Select product and its regular Plan 65 Medicare Supplemental counterpart. Both complement the Medicare coverage and fill in the holes Medicare coverage identifies as beneficiary responsibility.
You have correctly pointed out the single difference between the products, not within the benefit structure, but simply the location that certain services must be received. For "planned" hospital inpatient admissions, a network contracting hospital must be used. I emphasize the word "planned" when referring to hospital admissions, as your editorial failed to point this out. Plan 65 Select members may use any facility (including the ones you mentioned in Marion, Hillsboro, and Newton) for emergency services. Network hospitals have agreed to discount charges, and these savings are passed along directly to the Plan 65 Select members in health insurance premium savings.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is working very hard to create affordable insurance products, and give our customer base choices to best match up their individual needs. The escalation of health care cost is hitting our seniors, many of them on fixed incomes, the hardest. In many cases the Plan 65 Select product has been the difference in these Medicare beneficiaries being able to protect their security by maintaining a quality supplemental health insurance product.
The idea of the Plan 65 Select product was borne from a recommendation from the Kansas Insurance Commissioner's office, and all printed materials are reviewed and approved by that department.
All Kansas hospitals are given the opportunity to participate in the network, including your local ones. Some choose not to, and we respect those decisions. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas has been offering quality health insurance products in this state for more than 60 years, building a strong reputation on honest and quality service.
S. Graham Bailey
Vice President, Corporate Communications and Public Relations
