Recently in Zach Getz Category

            Laura Polucha, Downingtown, Pa., senior, is living a dangerous life.  She's not doing drugs or getting drunk every night but living a life without health insurance.

            It's not because she is careless or doesn't want it, it's because she can't afford it.  Polucha's mom is self-employed and also without health insurance, and Polucha doesn't feel she makes enough money to get health insurance on her own.

           She says she is constantly looking over her shoulders at time and refuses to do somewhat dangerous activities like skiing.

           "I really worry about it," said Polucha.  "I've never been sick or gotten hurt, but I know any day could be the day.  I want insurance, but I make like $7.50 an hour."

            Polucha is just one of the many students and young adults that don't have health insurance.   Rising costs as well as difficulty of receiving insurances has caused a large number of students and young adults to be uninsured and vulnerable for large unexpected medical bills.

Uninsured trends

            According to the United States Census, 8,000,000 people between 19 and 24 were uninsured in 2007.  That age group is the highest percentage of uninsured of any age group at 28.1 percent.

Source: U.S. census

            Kansas has a statewide uninsured rate of 12.7 percent, about 2.5 points lower than the national average of 15.3 percent according to U.S. census data.  The uninsured rate of 19 to 24 year olds is 29.4 percent in Kansas, 1.3 points higher than the national average. 

In 2007 Douglas County has the highest uninsured rate of any county in eastern Kansas at 18.8 percent.  The high rate is driven up by its high young adult population, compared to Johnson County and Shawnee County, which have uninsured rates of under 10 percent according to U.S. census data.  Riley County, which is where Manhattan is located, has an uninsured rate of 22.5 percent.

Source: U.S. census

Bankruptcy because of medical debt is also rising.  According to the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Medicine, 62.1 percent of Bankruptcies were caused by medical issues in 2007, up from 46.2 percent in 2001.

According to the Center for Disease Control, 53 percent said that the reason they didn't have health insurance was because of the cost while 27 percent said it's because they either lost their job or changed jobs recently.  Six percent said the reason was because they recently left school or are ineligible because of their age.

Source: Kaiser/HRET Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Benefits,2008.

In recent years health insurance premiums have increase sharply.  The average annual health insurance premiums have over doubled in the last year for single and family coverage.

            University of Kansas students are eligible for health insurance through the Kansas Board of Regents for $915 annually or $540 for both the fall and spring semesters as long as the student is taking at least six credit hours per semester.  The premiums for a family annually is $7,945.

Tommy's story

            Tommy Royal was 21 years old and a student at Johnson County Community College.  Exhausted with school and work, Tommy wanted to take a semester off and decide what he wanted to do in his life.

            While Tommy was taking his break from school, he became ineligible for his parent's health insurance in January.  Irma and Thomas Royal, Tommy's parents, told him he would need to get insurance through his job.  Tommy agreed, although he wouldn't be eligible for health insurance until October.  .

            "He was one of the healthiest kids I knew," said Irma.  "He had never been sick."  Irma said that in March that Tommy became ill and started complaining of cold-like symptoms.

            "We thought that he just had a cold or sinus problems, but we took him to all kinds of specialist and no one was able to diagnose him," said Irma.  "Finally we took him to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, and they finally diagnosed him with Lou Gehrig's disease in September.  By that time he couldn't eat or breath on his own.  He had to be put on a respirator on his birthday."

            With hospital bills already piling up, Irma decided that she could not afford the around the clock nurses required to care for Tommy, so she learned how to care for him in her home.  She learned how to administer IVs and use the complicated machines that were helping to keep Tommy alive.  Her and her husband took turns taking shifts watching over Tommy.

            In the end Tommy lost his battle with Lou Gehrig's disease eight months after he was diagnosed and just over a year after he started to show symptoms.  In that time, Tommy racked up about a quarter million dollars in hospital bills.

            Irma didn't have to pay for it all though because of some advice a doctor gave her.  While she said she would sell her house and everything she owned to pay for his bills, she was told by the compassionate doctor not to sign for the bills as the debts would belong to Tommy since he was not a minor.

"I thank that doctor everyday because he said 'since your son was 21, do not sign anything for him since he would be liable for all the medical bills,'" said Irma.  While Irma and Thomas emptied out most of their savings account early on in Tommy's battle, they were not liable for most of the $250,000 of bills that had accumulated.

The buzz

            A honey bee landed on Richard Bean's apron as if it was looking for something.  Maybe the bee smelled the honey in the air, or maybe it was plotting revenge.  It may have been just attracted to Bean's outfit. 

The bee sensing there was nothing for it left and moved on.  But Bean continued to dish out honey and other products like eggs and flowers to dozens of customers that are on first name basis with Bean.

Richard Bean makes price tags for the honey Saturday at the Farmer's Market in Lawrence.

Bean, 62, a man well over six feet, is dressed head to toe as a bee with a little hat with eyes and antennas.  He spends his Saturday's selling honey at the Lawrence Farmer's Market from his farm, the Blossom Trail Bee Ranch.

            The outfit brings a lot attention to his little booth as people give him smiles and comment on his outfit.  "Looking good," a woman yells as she walks by while a little girl giggles and points to Bean from the side before running to catch up with her mother.

But behind the yellow and black stripes it's all business for Bean who has been keeping bees since 1971.  Beekeeping and working the Farmer's Market is now his full time job.

            Bean started slow in the early 70s.  "I had a notion that I would like to try keep bees and fortunately there was a gentleman in my hometown who kept bees," said Bean.  "I went to talk to him, and even though he didn't like the length of my hair, he was willing to talk to me and give me some tips."

            Bean started off by taking out bee colonies from old farm buildings or wherever there were wild bee colonies.  Bean continued beekeeping through the years and now maintains about 60 beehives around the area.  Around 12 of the hives are swarms bees that he captured himself.

Helper bees   

Mark McCanon has been acquaintances with Bean for three years and for the last year has been assisting Bean.  "I've been beekeeping for about eight years now, but I just recently started working with Richard," said McCanon.  McCanon is often seen right next to Bean at the Farmer's Market dressed up like a bee as well.

The partnership began when Bean started helping McCanon with some of his beekeeping problems and they became more and more involved with each other's work. 

            "Last season he started helping in the fields.  It helps out a lot to have an assistant," said Bean.  "I could do it on my own, but it makes it so much easier."

            The pair has also started an educational service called Bees 4 Us which teaches educational classes. 

            One of Bean's students is Tucker Saunders, 7, who sometimes helps Bean at the Farmer's Market when McCanon is unable to work.  Saunders' family runs the booth next to Bean, which sells meat, eggs and vegetables. 

Saunders said that the Bee Keeping classes were very fun and that it taught him a lot about bees.  Saunders also said that Bean is very nice and he likes to work with Bean at the Farmer's Market.  Bean's influences have spread around the interests of beekeeping as Saunders said he may one day like to be a beekeeper. 

Stings

            Beekeeping may seem like a daunting profession for some, especially those who are afraid of being stung.  Bean was slightly allergic to beestings when growing up.  "I would have most of my forearm completely swollen from getting stung in the hand," said Bean.   He said that his body is now slightly more used to bee venom so he doesn't swell up so much, but he also said the beestings still hurt.

Richard Bean places jars of honey at his booth Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market in Lawrence.

            "A lot of a times it's an accident even when I've finished up my chores and I'm about to walk away I'll get stung, said Bean.  "I hate those; an unprovoked sting."

            Even with stings still being painful, Bean says he usually only wears his beekeeping helmet.  "It'd be crazy not to, but in the summer time.  I try to be as comfortable as possible," said Bean.  Certain precautions can also be used such as using smoke to cover the pheromones in the air.

            McCanon also said a bee sting is suicide for them, so they usually leave you alone unless they feel threaten and releases pheromones into the air.

Past the honey          

It's not just about selling honey for Bean.  He is also trying to further organic beekeeping as beekeepers tend to use a lot of chemicals during the whole process.  "I'm try to try and figure out how to control mites in a sustainable fashion without using chemicals," said Bean.   

In addition to selling honey, Bean also sells the comb, which is becoming more popular with people and is the only place in the Farmer's Market to buy it.  "The comb is the whole product.  Everything is in it including the taste and nutrition," said Bean.  "There may be a few more health benefits to the comb honey too."

Bean also sells bee pollen, which many believe to have various health benefits, although the Food and Drug Administration does not allow providers to state that pollen can contain health benefits.

Who could say no to $11.2 million dollars?

Kansas Lawmakers did.  Kansas lost the chance to get its share of $11.2 million dollars in federal grant money given to states that had primary seat belt laws by June 30th.

After the Kansas Senate passed a bill that would have qualified Kansas for the federal grant, the Kansas House shot down the bill in May.  The bill never seemed to have a chance after that and Kansas missed the June 30^th deadline. 

Seat belts are a major contributor to traffic safety, yet still a topic of debate around the country.  Kansas had a chance to generate money in a time of economic recession and help save lives. 

Push for primary

            Under the current Kansas secondary enforcement laws, a police officer can only issue a citation for failing to wear a seat belt if one is pulled over for another offense.  Under primary seat belt enforcement, a police officer can pull one over and issue a citation for failing to wear a seat belt alone.

Source: http://www.iihs.org/laws/safetybeltuse.aspx

            Currently 29 states and the District of Columbia have primary seat belt laws while 20 states have secondary enforcement.  New Hampshire has no seat belt laws at all.  Many other states including Florida and Ohio have switched over to primary seat belt laws in recent months in order to qualify for the grant money. 

Pete Bodyk, Traffic Safety Manager for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said his department would have been directly responsible for the money that Kansas would have received if it had qualified.  Bodyk also said it wasn't just about the grant money and said he wanted primary enforcement laws when he first took his job.

            "I think we should've passed the laws whether we got any money or not.  I've been in this job five years, I wanted this even before this money was available," said Bodyk.  "I think it will save the state money in the long run.  That and a lot of heartache."

Bodyk said he believes that not having primary seat belt laws hurt everyone.  It hurts families by having deaths that were unneeded as well as bills required for those not wearing seat belts.  It hurts medical and law enforcement who have to see those badly injured because they were thrown from their vehicle.  He said it also hurts employers for employees who survive but are unable to work and the company loses productivity. 

"Primary enforcement will improve safety and it'll reduce cost," said Bodyk.  "We all pay because once someone is in a serious enough crash.  At a certain point insurance runs out and Medicaid pays for it, and that's our tax dollars.  I'm paying for someone not wearing that seat belt."

Seat belts save the United States about $50 billion dollars a year in medical care, lost productivity, and other injury related costs according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  The NHTSA also estimates that people failing to use seat belts costs the country about $26 billion dollars a year.

Buckling up

When a seat belt is worn properly, it reduces the chance of a fatal injury by 45 percent in cars and 60 percent in trucks according to the NHTSA.  In 2008, 69.8 percent of people killed in Kansas in traffic accidents were not wearing seat belts according to the KDOT. 

Source:  http://www.ksdot.org/burtrafficsaf/fatalities/fatalitydetail09.asp

In states with primary seatbelt enforcement, 88 percent of people wore seat belts compared to 75 percent in secondary enforcement states according to the NHTSA. 

Douglas County recently started outperforming the national average in seat belt usage.  Five years ago Douglas County had a 58 percent usage rate, 21 points less than then national average according to KDOT.  In 2008, Douglas County was 1 point higher than the national average at 84 percent.  However Kansas only had 77 percent usage, 6 points lower than the national average.

"On other state averages, there are anywhere from seven to 11 percent increase the year after a new primary seat belt laws goes into full-effect," said Bodyk.  "It's not a cure-all, but it's another tool to help improve safety."

But wearing a seat belt can help avoid accidents for others said Bodyk.  "You see crashes sometimes where a car goes off the road and keep going, then comes back on the road and hits another car head-on," says Bodyk.  "People ask why they didn't stop the vehicle and it was because they weren't wearing their seat belt and he got bounced out of the seat and wasn't able to control the vehicle."

http://www.ksdot.org/burtrafficsaf/safblt/safbltusag.asp

Safety versus freedom         

Not everyone agrees that there should be primary seat-belt laws.  Some feel that there should not be laws forcing people to wear seat belts whenever driving.

            "Maybe for kids, but for adults, it should be their choice," say Joe Hannoun, former University of Kansas student.  "If people don't wear their seat belts then it's their choice.  There shouldn't be a law forcing people to do every little thing in life."

            Hannoun also believes that police officers should be looking out for more serious offenses instead of just seat belts.  "Cops should be looking for speeders or drunk drivers.  If they pull over someone not wearing a seat belt, sure, give them a ticket.  But it's a little ridiculous to be pulling someone over only because of that."

It's Friday afternoon and Collin Bielser, 2008 graduate, is in a meeting discussing future lesson plans for his new job - holding conversational English groups for international students.  Bielser is not feeling the recession as much as many people across the country. 

            While others are getting laid off or struggling to find a job, Bielser has two jobs and is leaving one soon to take a new full-time internship.

"I just found them online and applied.  It was pretty quick," said Bielser.  Bielser is not the only one having luck with the current job market.  "My fiancé found her job right away.  But she had an internship beforehand, so maybe that made it easier," said Bielser.

            Bielser's story is not as uncommon as one might think around Lawrence.  Even though Lawrence is experiencing a higher unemployment rate than it had a year ago, it still has a much lower unemployment rate compared to the national average.  In fact, every Big 12 city has a lower unemployment rate than the national average.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

            Lawrence has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country at 5% this April according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; well under the 8.9% national average.  Lawrence is even 1.5% under the Kansas average of 6.5%, which is one of the lowest state unemployment rates in the country.          

            Lawrence is also low among other major Kansas cities listed by the BLS.  Only Manhattan, another college town, had a lower unemployment rate in Kansas.

            It's not just the low unemployment rate is, but also that Lawrence's unemployment rate is rising at a much slower pace than the national average.  Last April the national unemployment rate was at 5%, an increase of 3.9% in a year.  Lawrence's unemployment rate was at 3.1% in April 2008, an increase of 1.9%; less than half of the national average.

Lack of Funding Cuts Key

            "I'm a little pleasantly surprised," said Roger Zalneraitis, Economic Development Coordinator for Lawrence, on the current unemployment rate in Lawrence.

            "Colleges tend to be countercyclical are far as economies go, and funding won't get cut in a recession," said Zalneraitis.  "As a result, you wind up having less unemployment and fewer people getting laid off."

            While there is some attention being paid to other Big 12 towns, Zalneraitis said that most of the focus is generally on what's going on in Kansas cities because of the uniqueness of each city's economy.

            "We are trying to take advantage of as much stimulus funding as we can and there is some entitlement funding that comes from being a city like Lawrence.  There are some other grants that are competitive that we are trying to apply for, and those will help out with creating new jobs, sustainability, construction, and other new fields like that," said Zalneraitis on what Lawrence is currently doing to try and keep unemployment low.

            Zalneraitis also said that local businesses benefit in college towns because they provide goods and services for the college, and to students and other faculty. 

Colleges also provide a wide range of job opportunities for a community.  The University of Kansas itself is Lawrence's largest employer and employs 5,515 full-time employees and 9,872 total employees according to the University of Kansas Office of Institutional Research and Planning.  Currently KU has 60 full-time positions open and 187 total job postings.

Around the Big 12

            Lawrence and Manhattan are not the only college towns enjoying the lower than average unemployment rates.  Ames, Iowa, has the 2nd lowest unemployment rate of 372 cites at 3.6%, while Manhattan comes in at 5th at 3.8%.  Lubbock, Tex., and Lincoln, Neb., also make the top 10.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

 

            In fact, all of the Big 12 cities are well below the national average. Out of the 11 Big 12 cities - Stillwater, Okla., and Norman, Okla., are both counted in Oklahoma City's data - all of them are in the top 60 lowest unemployment rate in the country and have an unemployment rate under 5.8%; at least 3.1% under the national average.

            As with Lawrence, other Big 12 cities are also having a slower rise in the unemployment rate.    Ames, Iowa, has had an increase of 1% in the last year while Lubbock, Texas, had an increase of 1.1%.  There are no Big 12 cities with a rise greater than 2.5%.

            While Austin, Texas, and Oklahoma City have metro areas of over a million people, even they are able to stay below their state and national unemployment rate with major universities in the city.

Not Bad, But Not Perfect

            Just because Lawrence isn't facing a near 9% unemployment rate does not mean that everything is great in Lawrence right now.  "A lot of people I talk to have a degree that they just got, and it's a specified field that they want to go into, and they aren't using it," said Bielser.  "I know a girl who is a dental hygienist.  She majored in journalism or advertising, and can't find a job in that."

"There are some sectors in Lawrence's economy that are being hurt pretty bad," said Zalneraitis.  "There have been some places that Lawrence has had strength over the years such as construction that have been hit pretty hard.  So even thought the unemployment rate is low in the city, there are some sectors that are suffering right now."

            Zalneraitis also said that while colleges do not get their funding cut during a recession, their funding can get cut after a recession, although it won't cut nearly as much.