OCR Text |
Show Social Services Committee Approves Budget By Douglas L. Parker Tribune Political Editor A f 153 million medical assistance budget for next fiscal year was approved Saturday by a legislative committee following adoption of a new nolicy initiative to go after more federal funds and ease prospective Medicaid deficits. The Social Services Appropriations Committee met in a rare allday Saturday session in an attempt to complete its work before the final y week of the Utah Legislature's budget session. The Legislature and eight other appropriation committees recessed for the weekend, preparatory to channeling committee recommendations next week through an Executive Appropriations Committee, million in state funds to allocate cate funds transfer system as uncer- which will order final adjustments in a general appropriations act. The social services panel recom- among budgetary workload tain. One foe, Rep. Ervin Skousen, Lake City, cautioned that the lt mended a new concept calling for the state to maximize the use of Medicaid monies within the Department of Social Services, and thereby transfer state funds to the Department of Health to cure a budgetary shortfall. It is called a prepaid social services program, where care providers are limited and individuals qualified for medical assistance that results in leveraging more federal funds. Committee Endorsed Concept The committee voted 7 to 3 to endorse the concept, still subject to federal government approval, a move opposed by the legislative fis-canalyst, who viewed the intri- - Legislature should saddle its own horse" instead of depending on more money from the federal government, which is well known for pulling out the rug once programs are funded." Norman Angus, executive director, Department of Social Services, viewed the prepaid assistance transfer as legitimate in qualifying for federal funds the state isnt now drawing and should for a proportionate share nationally. He said Utah has 0.7 percent of the population, but receives 0.3 of Medicaid funding. The committees t 33 endorse-men- effectively freed up about where 17 counties contribute the equivalent of a 0.25 property tax mill levy for the state to assume medical care costs for poor transients sick enough to be in life threatening situations. The amount followed the fiscal analysts recommendation, but the committee spurned the analyst's advice by making it part of the general medical assistance budget instead of categorizing the funding as a separate budget item. Without a separate "line item" for the funding, the Legislature will lose control over the funds, the analyst suggested. But Michael Stapley, acting director for the Department of Health, urged the action to permit flexibility in transferring medical assistance funds if See Page Column 1 in- creases for other social and health programs. Analysts Recommendation The (153 medical assistance budget is about 319 million more than estimated for the current fiscal year, and is nearly 32 million more that the governors initial recommendation. It follows the legislative analyst's recommendation, which considered the governors estimate of Medicaid use too low. Severe winters, as seen in 1983 and 1984. may be significant in increased Medicaid utilization, the analyst suggested. The social services committee recommended a $4.1 million fiscal year budget for the county medically indigent program, a system Local News Obituaries, Features Page B-1- 5 Sunday Morning, January Section 22, 1984 B Page 1 Feisty Coalition Of Senior Utahns Takes On Utilities Nothing Serious Editor's note: This column bv Don Valentine Sr. first oppeared In The Salt Loke Tribune on Sept. 24, 1953. By Con Psarras Tribune Staff Writer Norah, Woody, Mary Frances and a few of the others got together recently, exchanged stories about 4 Dogs have taken it on the chin or snoot for too long. It's about their grandchildren and talked about how theyre going to try and time the human race removes some of the pressure from dogs. botch a 348 million deal for the telephone company. And when theyre done, they might see what they can do about a 392 million deal the electric companys got going. The group has a few problems with the gas company too, and they'll be talking about that in a little while. Come to think of it, there are For example, weve got to stop using the name of dogs in vain when we speak about world conditions. Two men meet on the street, discuss Russia, atom Dan Valentine bombs, and germ warfare, and one says to the other, The worlds going to the dogs isnt it? And the other fellow nods his head in agreement. With the conditon of the world today, its not fair to dogs to blame them for world conditions. Next time you feel like complaining about the way the world is going, be merciful to our canine friends. Dont say: The world is going to the dogs! Instead say, The world is going to the cats! (I feel there will be repercusions on the above from the folks who sponsor National Cat week.) Wives can do much to build up the esteem of dogs in the eyes of the public. When the average husband crawls home at 3 a m. after a hard night with the boys, his wife usually meets him at the front door, and her first words are: You dog, you! This is not fair to dogs . . . ... jlalt fake tribune A Dan Valentines After all few married dogs stay out all night (or do they?) and it would help the cause of Dogdom if wives would refrain from referring to their errant husbands as dogs and start calling them by their true name: Goats! I have always felt a certain kinship with dogs . . . it all started with my days in the infantry during World War II. One of the first endearing phrases I had directed to me by a gentle-hearte- d first sergeant was this: Hey, Valentine, you with the two left feet quit trying to dog it! And since that fareful day dogs and I have been closer together. Sometimes, though, dog lovers get carried away with their love for the little canine creatures. Like the other day, a stranger was walking past a house, and a dog ran out and took a bite out of the strangers left leg. Not a big bite, mind you, but even a small bite hurts on the left leg. The dogs owner, a professional dog lover, raced out of the house and gave the stranger a good talking to. "I dont want my dog eating meat that isnt inspected, he roared. The stranger apologized and said that he had no idea of giving the dog a meal when he passed by. "The least you could have done was put salt on your left leg my dog hates to eat unsalted meat! This, you'll have to admit, is carrying dog love too far. My column colleague, Sam, the Sad Cynic, doesnt like dogs. He scoffs at the idea that dogs are useful animals. Dogs havent been useful since the days of castles and feudal lords, Sam says. In those days, the lord of the manor kept a dog under the table so he could wipe off his greasy hands on the dogs fur coat In those days dogs were nothing more than working napkins. Before all you dog lovers race for paper and pen to write me irate tens, the above statement is Sam's not mine . . . He's got a right to not like dogs if he so desires . . .It's not so much that Sam doesn't like dogs in particular. Sam doesn't like anything. He does not like anything that walks on two or four feet. If there were animals that walked on one foot, he wouldnt like them either. Me. I love dogs. I think dogs are wonderful. I think dogs are simply the cats! SAM, THE SAD CYNIC, SAYS: Valentine is all wrong when be why, Red says I don't like dogs Dog is one of my favorite games! Sflje Tribune Staff Photo bv Tim Kelly Maintenance worker Tim Strelich checks slush around ice mound formed by 40-fo- ot i water fountain near Airport Road. Cold weather is predicted through this week. Another Wicked Week More Cold , Fog and Snow to Come Cold temperatures, fog, and scattered snow showers are expected to hang around for another week. Areas of fog will continue in the Intermountain area, with a chance of light snow expected in northern Utah on Monday and Wednesday. Low temperatures will dip down to five below in Salt Lake City, and highs wont climb much higher than 20 degrees. Saturdays low temperature in Police Coax Gunman From House man heavily armed to kill police officers responding to the shooting of a dog, barricaded himself for nearly four hours in a duplex at 830 E. Chase Ave. (860 South) before surrendering peacefully to Salt Lake City police Saturday afternoon. The standoff ended shortly before 4 p.m. when Charles McDaniel, 28, put down his weapons and surrendered to police officers who had surrounded the small duplex and threatened to force him out with tear gas after repeated attempts to talk the man into giving up had failed. The suspect was taken to the Salt y Lake Jail, where he was booked on misdemeanor charges of simple assault and cruelty to animals, said Salt Lake City Police Lieutenant Kent Livsey. An argument between the suspect 8nd his girfriend, Julie Wheeler, 30, same address, over the way she disciplined her dog apparently precipi-Se- e Column 1 Page A who threatened Salt Lake City was four degrees below zero. Low temperatures were recorded throughout the state, including Roosevelt, which had a low of 25 below, and Green River, which recorded a temperature of 18 below. The lowest temperature in the state Saturday was in Randolph, which recorded 27 degrees below. The states high temperature was in St. George, where the thermometer peaked at a mild 49 degrees. The extended forecast calls for h Qi patchy areas of fog to remain in the Salt Lake Valley through Thursday, especially in the early morning and late evening hours. Fog narrowed visibility at the Salt Lake Airport Saturday evening, and light traces of snow were recorded. There is a 60 percent chance of scattered snow showers through Monday night, particularly in northern areas of the state. Skys will be mostly fair in the southern portion of the state. some things that federal, state and county governments are up to that could stand a good look-seWell have to get working on those, Norah says. And so it goes on a winter afternoon in the offices of the Utah Coalition of Senior Citizens. The seniors, as they like to call themselves, have been feeling their oats lately. They received a nice letter from the governor thanking them for their inciteful and instrumental" input in a recent Medicaid issue. Members were pleased but not charmed; theyve recently been putting up posters asking other seniors to deluge the governor with angry phone calls about rising utility bills. "Thats what you call political clout, one of them brags. Host of Other Causes Whatever organized clout Utahs elderly might carry is being wielded these days mainly in the direction of the state's utilities. But there is a host of other causes that coalition members are pursuing. Among them: better public transportation programs for the elderly; more equitable and efficient delivery of free cheese and butter as part of the ongoing federal food giveaway program; the containment of rising health care costs; nuclear arms reof federal, duction; maintenance funding for Social Security and Medicaid the list grows longer by the day. And so do the coalitions membership rolls. The group currently claims 7,000 members about twice as many as it had just a couple of years ago. And its an incontrovertible fact of the life that more and more Americans are approaching senior citizen status. By the end of the century, census projections say, more Americans will be in senior citizenship range than at any time in the nations history. The coalition, which draws its funds almost entirely from private donations, has a dual purpose for the members who gathered in the groups spartan downtown office to discuss their pet issues for the benefit of a reporter. The organization gives them something to do; and it gives them something to do that they believe is important. "This organization really started ... nine-year-o- as a result of a study done at the University of Utah that showed that of Utahns 62 years and older felt they had little or no imput in community and government affairs," says Larry Johnson, the executive director of the coalition. The organization aims at offering senior citizens a meaningful way of becoming involved in the poltical process and to do away with the stereotypes that senior citizens arent valuable members of society," adds Mr. Johnson, who accepted the See Page Column 1 two-thir- Fraud Turns Victims Into Crooks Insurance Cheating Blurs Distinction By Mike Carter Tribune Staff Writer Salt Lake City Police burglary division Sgt. Mike Roberts leaned back in his chair and said wryly: Seems we spend about 80 percent of our time trying to figure out the good guys from the bad guys. Youd think it would be easy. The crooks are the guys who break into someone's house and steal things. The people who who live in the houses are the innocent victims. Sometimes. Sgt. Roberts and his detectives more and more often are finding that the victims of burglaries in Salt Lake City are often as guilty of a crime as the thieves. In as many as 50 percent of the burglary cases the department investigates, he notes, the victims cheat on insurance claims, costing insurance companies probably hundreds of thousands of dollars" in false payments and endangering dozens of burglary prosecutions. The police, he said, are cracking down on insurance frauds in these cases, regardless of whether such prosecutions may damage the cases made against the thieves. In a recent case, two "victims" of a burglary were charged with felony insurance fraud when police, armed with a search warrant, found much of the property the pair reported as "stolen" in a burglary in the basement of their home. Whats interesting is that this sort of thing is such a common occurrence," he said. We believe victims inflate the value or falsely report stolen property in half or maybe more of the cases we Investigate." The insurance fraud is difficult to prove, though. To do so, police usual-Se- e Column 5 Page kraal ! . ti U, j V , -- "f j? - f ' ' A 4r, ' r If::ftW'Y. y j3 ) i ; awtsii ':f Ij ft i Vf if I Vj 4 City-Count- v: V Tribune Start Photo bv Poul Ftoughton Members of Salt Lake Citys Special Emergency Response Team take Charles McDaniel, 28, (plaid shirt) into custody r standoff with police Saturday afternoon after a his girlfriends dog. of the shooting by midday precipitated four-hou- |