June 2007 Archives
Wise County ends coverage for illegal immigrants by Chris Vaughn, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6/4/07
The Wise County Commissioners Court voted this week to deny indigent healthcare coverage to illegal immigrants, nearly three years after Tarrant County made the same move.
The decision was made, officials said, because the county cannot be reimbursed by the state for expenses related to illegal immigrants. The Wise County program had only one illegal immigrant enrolled.
Anyone with an emergency will still be treated as required by federal law.
"You have to be here legally to get it," Wise County Attorney Greg Lowery said. "If you're not legal, we're not going to provide nonemergency healthcare."
The indigent healthcare program is funded entirely by county taxpayers and assists low-income families that, for whatever reason, do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.
The program reimburses local physicians and clinics up to $30,000 per person per year. Between 50 and 100 people are enrolled in the program at any given time.
"It's a last-ditch effort for them," said Charles Dillard, the county's emergency medical services administrator, who also supervises the program. "If they don't qualify for any other program, then they can come to us."
After a county reaches a certain spending threshold, it can seek state reimbursement. But the state will not reimburse for the care of illegal immigrants.
That is why officials wanted to stop offering coverage now.
"We were getting more phone calls about illegal aliens to be put on the program," Dillard said.
They have one for lease...
I just know that the letters on this building sign say B L D G, but my brain can't stop seeing B L O G.
I am once again speaking about accessibility at BlogHer. Last year was practically a sneak attack on a room full of people who wanted to learn about making their blogs shiny. This year the BlogHeristas have switched things around and I'll be talking to a techie crowd. That will be a change, since my usual accessibility talk is "Don't worry, you don't have to be a techie to do this!" It also means I need a new presentation, perhaps one that doesn't include a photo of my dirty laundry?
In any event, I'm looking forward to it. I have some work to do on my own blogs if I'm going to be walking the walk, as you can see if you read the latest tip on All Access Blogging and then look carefully at this blog. Eeep! Time to get down with some CSS.
It's been a while since I last reminded my treasured readers about how easy it is to avoid using plastic bags when shopping. Around our house, progress has stalled a bit as we work on how to bring the produce home and keep it from decaying without plastic bags, but I am confident that a solution will be discovered.
While we've been dealing with that, the Christian Science Monitor has been keeping its eye on the international scene. Apparently a plastic bag revolt is spreading across Britain:
Dumbstruck by what she'd seen off the Hawaiian coast during her year-long filmmaking trip, Hosking set up a local screening of her film and invited the town's 43 shopkeepers to come see where plastic bags end up.
All but seven of them showed up. At the end of the viewing, held in a local hall, Hosking called for a show of hands in support of a voluntary ban on plastic bags. Every single hand went up. The rest of the town's shopkeepers quickly followed suit. On May 1, Modbury won bragging rights as the first plastic-bag-free town in Europe.
Now, larger towns and even cities are calling up Hosking to ask how she did it. Supermarkets and other retailers are experimenting with plastic-bag-free days, reusable totes, or even buy-your-own bags to discourage usage.
If you're still haven't kicked the plastic bag habit, there's help over at Miss Malaprop. She highlights the gorgeous Envirosax bags available from Bright and Bold:
They're gorgeous (and/or handsome, for those of the masculine persuasion), they're apparently easy to store in a purse or backpack, and they're on sale. What more could you need?
The Scene: A Denny's near a large airport in Houston, Friday night, around 10:30 p.m.
The Princess: Actually, it's time for me to take my pills. Except I don't think I have any that are already cut up, I was going to do that at Mom's house.
C-Man: I have a knife, hand them over.
(Waitress walks up while C-Man is cutting blue and white pills in half on a plate.)
The Princess: I swear these are legal.
Waitress: Whatever y'all are doing, it's y'all's business.
(Waitress walks away.)
The Princess: I don't think it would have made that any better if I told her I was pregnant.
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Why would anyone who had spent time around a toddler want to build a robot that acts like one? (I'm going to be a great parent, eh?)
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And this would be a bad thing why?
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When I first saw the web, I thought "I don't know why I would ever use this." Now, I think this is funny. Who knew?
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Dogs are so cool.
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Like it says, just don't do it.
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Oh, how I love this blog.
Co-worker # 1: Her colors for her wedding are silver and blue. Those are her favorite colors.
The Princess: Silver isn't a color.
Co-worker # 2: Yeah, do metals count?
The Princess: No.
Co-worker # 2: My favorite colors are zinc and aluminum!
An email from "Bimbo Burlingame" is not going to make me click on it just to see what it says. I'm just not that bored.
Boss: Can I ask you to do me a really huge favor?
The Princess: Hell no!
Boss: I'm late for a meeting, but can you just recheck the math in this email?
