The Gilmer Mirror (Gilmer, Tex.), Vol. 136, No. 40, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 18, 2013 Page: 4 of 14
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Page 4A — The Gilmer Mirror, Gilmer, Texas May 18,2013
Wm^pmlnts
The new normal
Mandatory health underinsurance
In an editorial responding to a new study on skimpy
health insurance among low-income, insured Americans,
two policy experts review extensive data showing that
tens of millions of insured Americans have grossly inad-
equate coverage, and that the problem of underinsurance
is growing. The editorial was published in the Journal of
General Internal Medicine (JGIM).
Paradoxically, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may ac-
tually increase underinsurance, say the editorialists, Drs.
Stefhe Woolhandler and David Himmelstein.
“Obamacare is lowering the bar for health insurance,”
said Dr. Himmelstein, a professor of public health at the
City University of New York and primary care doctor.
“The new coverage sold through the insurance exchanges
will leave many families paying 40 percent of their health
costs out-of-pocket even after they’ve laid out thousands
for premiums. And the administration is allowing states
to institute co-payments under Medicaid, even for the
poorest of the poor.”
Himmelstein continued: “Under the ACA a 56-year-old
making $46,100 will pay a premium of $10,585 for coverage
through the exchange and still face up to $6,250 in co-pay-
ments and deductibles.”
Dr. Woolhandler, the lead author of the editorial who is
also a physician and professor of public health at CUNY,
said: “Over the past 25 years the financial protection of-
fered by health insurance has steadily eroded. The conse-
quences are grave, not only financially but also medically.
For instance, we know that heart attack patients who face
high co-payments delay coming to the ER, threatening
their lives.”
Woolhandler and Himmelstein (who also serve as
visiting professors at Harvard Medical School) were co-
authors with Elizabeth Warren of a widely cited study
that showed that illness and medical bills contribute to 62
percent of personal bankruptcies; most of the medically
bankrupt were insured. Sen. Warren played no role in the
JGIM editorial.
“Obamacare is making underinsurance the new nor-
mal,” said Woolhandler. “It will reduce the number of
uninsured from 50 million to 30 million, but the new cov-
erage is full of holes. Americans deserve the kind of hrst-
dollar, comprehensive coverage that Canadians already
have. But that’s only affordable under a single-payer
system that cuts out the private insurance middlemen.”
Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.
org) is a nonprofit research and education organization
of more than 18,000 doctors who advocate for single-pay-
er national health insurance. PNHP had no role in fund-
ing or otherwise supporting the study described above.
To speak with a physician/spokesperson in your area,
visit www.pnhp.org/stateactions or call (312) 782-6006.
When tragedy strikes,
HOSPITALS ARE THERE
By DAN STULTZ, M.D., FACP, FACHE
President/ Chief Executive Officer
Texas Hospital Association
THE TRAGEDY that struck West earlier this month high-
lighted the importance of local hospitals and first responders
who swung into action, providing experience, hard work and
dedication to serve in time of crisis.
As a result, lives were saved.
The region’s hospitals have
come to rely on the highly
skilled staff members who
were on duty or came back to
the hospitals to help during the
crisis. They were there - wait-
ing and ready - before EMS
delivered its first patients. The
response by Central Texas hos-
TEXAS HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION pitals was astounding. Their
professionahsm and training
was evident as hospital officials communicated on live television
to brief a shocked and concerned national community. Their
response was no different than those we witnessed from other
Texas hospitals, like those in Southeast Texas who served their
community so ably when Hurricane Ike struck in 2008.
Beyond the lifesaving medical care provided, these tragic
events also remind us that demand for a robust trauma system
can spike at any moment.
Being prepared is a vital part of our trauma system’s suc-
cess.
Certainly, Texas hospitals and trauma providers will not
face disaster and destruction every day. Still, these incidents
are not fleeting for our health care professionals who prepare
every day for the next time they are needed. Ensuring our
infrastructure is secure requires a long-term ability to meet
the public’s health care needs in times of crisis.
AS THE population grows, Texas hospitals are seeing in-
creased demand and strain on trauma care services in both
rural and urban areas. Hospitals face severe pressure to ensure
continued investments in adequate trauma facilities. Annu-
ally, Texas hospitals afford $200 million in uncompensated
trauma care to those who do not have health insurance. Since
2004, Texas hospitals have provided more than $2 billion in
uncompensated trauma care.
At the same time, programs estabhshed to provide vital sources
of trauma funding to offset shortfalls from uncompensated
trauma care are being threatened. In 2011, and again this year,
some Texas lawmakers have introduced legislation that would
suspend cohection of fines and surcharges in the Driver Respon-
sibility Program, which generates approximately $133 milhonper
year for the Designated Trauma Facihty and EMS Account 5111.
Stih, these funds are not always fully ahocated and prioritized
by state budget writers as intended for trauma care.
Without a crisis in the headhnes, it is easy to put trauma
funding at the bottom of the “to do” list. But, as we ah saw, the
disaster in West, coming on the heels of the bombings in Boston,
show how critical it is for our local communities to be fully pre-
pared when disaster does strike. Staffing and equipping trauma
centers and emergency departments 24 hours a day, seven days
a week is costly, and providing this level of care in a state with
an uninsured rate of 25 percent adds to that expense.
No one should have to experience what the West commu-
nity endured, but it is a solemn reminder that our state can
and should ensure our hospitals are properly prepared and
funded to be ready in a time of crisis.
About the THA
Founded in 1930, the Texas Hospital Association is the
leadership organization and principal advocate for the state’s
hospitals and health care systems. Based in Austin, THA en-
hances its members’ abilities to improve accessibihty, quality
and cost-effectiveness of health care for ah Texans. One of the
largest hospital associations in the country, THA represents more
than 85 percent of the state’s acute-care hospitals and health care
systems, which employ some 369,000 health care professionals
statewide. Learn more about THA at www.tha.org or follow
THA on Twitter @texashospitals.
Courtesy Photo
OLEN AND GWEN KEEL are pictured on their wedding day in 1952. Jeff Baird posted this to
the GROWING UP GILMER group on Facebook last week.
Make a Small Sacrifice
By MALU BRADFORD
BEYONCE
I GOT RID OF my smart
cell phone about six months
ago. I really thought it was
going to be hard to do but thus
far I haven’t noticed much of
a difference.
I still have a
cell phone but
it is very ba-
sic model. It
does not have
games or even
a camera. I love it.
I also love how much lower
my cell phone bill is now. I
am saving over $50 a month.
Whenever I find a way to cut
costs, I take half of the money
I am saving and put it my sav-
ings account.
Before you start looking for
cheaper alternatives, getting
rid of your smartphone may
not be for you. My husband
stih has his smartphone which
also has gps. I don’t travel
much and don’t have a big
need for a gps system. How-
ever when I do, I can always
switch cell phones with my
husband.
THE MAIN THING I had
to get use to was not have a
camera on my phone. I now
use my ipod touch to take
pictures. Most of the time I
forget to bring my ipod so I
don’t take as many pictures as
I used to. For me that trade off
is completely worth it.
One of my friends decided
to cut her cable bill. She now
has just the basic package. Her
theory was that there was no
way her family could utilize
the 200 plus channels she was
paying for. She now only has
around 20 channels and is
perfectly happy. Surprisingly,
so are her children.
I AM constantly looking
for ways to cut costs. Now
that I have a child I can’t wait
to start going to restaurants
where kids eat free. If we are
going to eat out, it might as
well be at a place that offers a
good savings.
Whether it is cutting back
on your cell phone bill, cable,
or entertainment costs; there
are ways to save money. You
just have to look for them
and sometimes make a small
sacrifice.
© 2013, MaLu Bradford Beyonce,
All Rights Reserved.
You may reach MaLu Brad-
ford Beyonce at malubeyonce@
gmail.com
Don t Fence Me In
By WILLIAM A. COLLINS
No job now,
Provides the pay,
To let me find,
A place to stay.
MANY FOLKS with big
incomes are responding to
the tensions
of America’s
growing eco-
nomic in-
equality by
moving into
gated com-
munities. This
isn’t new, just
growing more
common. Ten percent of us
are already gated in one way
or another.
The recession has added
further impetus to the nation’s
housing challenges both inside
and outside those gates. Fore-
closures aren’t as common as
they were a few years ago when
the housing bubble burst, but
they’re stih converting more
homeowners into renters.
And the dwindling of the
middle class keeps countless
emerging young adults from
ever gaining their own place.
VETERANS, whom we
once supported with yellow
magnets, are frequently the
worst off. The overall veteran
homelessness rate declined
last year, but the rate for Iraq
and Afghanistan vets doubled
between 2010 and 2012. Those
former troops — many of
whom returned with fearsome
disabilities — are too often
homeless and hopeless with
no avenue into the commercial
housing market
And commercial is exactly
what our housing market has
become. It aims mostly at
upper-income buyers these
days, since that’s where the
money is. The old mass hous-
ing market that blossomed
during the middle class’s 20th-
century heyday is but a distant
memory.
Federal housing subsidies,
meanwhile, also smile more
warmly upon the rich. The
federal government spends
more on housing programs
that benefit households earn-
ing $100,000 or more per year
than on people who make less
than that — and presumably
are the ones who really need
help. That includes $35 billion
right off the top that goes to
families with over $200,000 in
income just for their mortgage
interest tax deduction. Renters
need not apply.
THE RESULT of these
various trends is that the
prosperous are further isolat-
ing themselves physically, as
well as economically, from
the rest of us. And as more
and more people lose their
homes or fail to transition
from rentingto owning, they’re
building up less equity. That
will haunt them in later life
when the chasm between haves
and have-nots will continue
to widen unless we change
course.
OtherWords columnist Wil-
liam A. Collins is a former state
representative and a former
mayor of Norwalk, Conn.
otherwords.org
Buckeyes hosting 7on7 tournament
today after successful start in SS
By ELWYN HENDERSON
The Gilmer Buckeyes of-
ficially kicked off their 7on7
season Monday afternoon with
a trip to Sulphur Springs for
games against the Wildcats
at the Sulphur Springs Multi-
Purpose Building indoor foot-
ball facihty. The varsity and
juniorvarsity athletes hadtheir
games inside and the younger
athletes played outside on the
practice held. Gilmer took ap-
proximately 50 athletes to the
event.
It turned out to be a very
successful outing, as ah teams
were very competitive, and
thingscouldnothavegonemuch
better for the two varsity teams
from Gilmer.
The first team, quarter-
backed by returning upcoming
senior quarterback Tanner
Barr won their first game 35-28
over the Wildcats and ran away
with the second game by a score
of 35-14.
The second team, quarter-
backed by upcoming junior
Chase Tate, won their first game
with a 14-0 shutout, and came
back from a 7-21 deficit in the
second game to he 21-21.
The Mirror talked with 7on7
Coach Rebel Jackson after the
games to get his thoughts of
what he saw from the squad.
“Youknow,whenyou’re7on7,
it’s ah offense for the most part.
We’ve got Tanner (Barr) back,
Quinn (Fluehen), Nick (Smith),
DeVondrick’s (Dixon) back, and
we played a lot of young kids—
Zod Heath, Andrew Hollis, Cory
Frazier. We played a lot of kids,
and our quarterback (Barr) has
improved tremendously, so hats
off to the coaches. You were here,
you can tell, we’ve made such big
strides. Last year we struggled
to even score a point. We moved
the ball very weh. Tanner played
well and Chasemoved theballex-
tremely well to have beenthrown
intothisposihon. Very impressed
with the way we played.”
The Bucks will host a 7on7
toumamentatBuckeyeStadium
today beginning at 9 a.m. and
concluding around 4 p.m. We
asked Coach Jackson how much
getting to play against another
team before that tournament
would help the Buckeyes.
“Itishuge, because they work
on it two or three days a week
probably at school, sotheyknow
what they’re doing, but then to
do it against somebody else and
not your team is big, and next
week (the Gilmer tournament
today) will be huge. Ithink we’ve
got 12 (teams) in the Varsity
division, 10 in the JV division;
Whitehouse, Sulphur Springs,
Daingerfield, Tatum, Mt. Pleas-
ant, Rockwall, so there’s a lot of
big schools coming that throw
the ball, so it’s just good. It’s got
the kids optimistic. They feel
good about what they’re doing,
and we got a lot of kids playing
time today, obviously, having
two varsities, so it’s good. We
feel good about it, but we’ve got
a lot of work to do.”
We asked Coach Jackson
his thoughts on Barr’s perfor-
mance at quarterback in the
two games he played. “Tanner
works so hard. I talked to Coach
(Alan) Metzel and you can tell;
he works so hard. We played 16
games last year and he got bet-
ter every week, and above that
you have kids that are confident
in themselves. Quinn Fluellen
made plays all day; Nick Smith
made plays all day, DeVondrick,
Chase, Cory; we’re deeper than
we’ve been, we’re playing more
kids, and we’ve got a lot of young
kids that are catching on and
getting there quickly. It all starts
with the quarterback—you can’t
run, you can’t hide it. We showed
tonight that we ’re miles ahead of
where we were last year.”
Itwasveryapparentwatching
the precision moves between
Tanner Barr and his receivers
that the upcoming season will
potentially prove to be even
more exciting for Buckeye fans
than last year. We encourage
everyone to show up at Buckeye
Stadium today and enjoy some
of the best 7on7 football in the
State of Texas.
Bertie Mae
Layman
Settles In
as World
War I begins
By JIM “PAPPY” MOORE
BERTIE MAE LAYMAN
had left behind family and
fiance when she journeyed
alone cross country in
early 1914 to south central
Montana, joining there her
Aunt Lydia
Layman Do-
ver, her Uncle
Bert Dover,
and their five
boys. She
soon moved
in with the
Lessie and Carlos Padgett
family as a boarder, and
from the safe distance of
sixteen hundred miles away
ended her engagement to
her worrisome fiance back
in Kentucky.
As many young people
who went west did, Bertie
Mae Layman filed a claim
for a quarter section of land
- one hundred sixty acres -
and became a homesteader.
She became a school teacher
for the Little Belt School-
house - halfway between
the Dover’s ranch and the
town of Buffalo. She also
became good friends with
Della Padgett, the daughter
of Carlos and Lessie Padgett,
who owned the home where
Bertie boarded and attended
weekly church services.
Bertie and Della Padgett
each filed claims for a quar-
ter section tract of land - one
hundred sixty acres - on the
south side of the Little Belt
Mountains. Buffalo was on
the north side. Bertie and
Della built their homestead
cabins close to each other,
near the boundary of their
adjacent tracts of lands. On
the other side of Bertie’s
tract was the homestead of
John James Linscott. He was
a slender young fellow with
blue eyes and black hair. He
was quiet by nature, with a
subtle, almost imperceptible
sense of humor.
Under the law of the time,
homesteaders had to build a
cabin and live in it for three
years before they could
sell or otherwise dispose
of the property. It would
be 1917 before Bertie could
do anything with her new
homestead other than live
on it and develop it as farm
or ranch property.
Bertie soon became
friends with fellow church
goers from the Linscott,
Barnhart and Padgett fami-
lies. The young folks natu-
rally gravitated to each
other, and it was there she
first took a liking to nine-
teen year old John James
Linscott. He was five feet
eight inches tall, about nor-
mal for his time. She stood
five feet ten inches tall, but
always seemed taller, partly
because she always stood so
straight up, if not downright
imposing.
A boy in one of her classes
was overheard telling an-
other boy he’d better not
misbehave in class because
of that new teacher. The
other boy said “I ain’t scared
of her.” His friend replied
“you’d better be scared of
her - she’s as big as a skin’t
mule!”
While World War I broke
out a half world away, Bertie
Mae Layman was living a full
new life among the beauti-
ful mountains and valleys
of Montana, surrounded
by new friends, relatives,
and relatives to be. She was
teaching school, attending
church, and homesteading
land. As she turned twenty
two years old, the future
looked bright and promising
for the tall, young, green
eyed, brown haired school
teacher from Kentucky.
(See my archives for Part
I, II, and III.)
©2013, Jim “Pappy”Moore,
All Rights Reserved.
Jim “Pappy” Moore is a na-
tive son of East Texas who still
makes thepiney woods his home.
oaktreefm58@juno.com
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Overton, Mac. The Gilmer Mirror (Gilmer, Tex.), Vol. 136, No. 40, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 18, 2013, newspaper, May 18, 2013; Gilmer, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth651264/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Upshur County Library.