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EDITORIAL: State negligent on smoking ban: Lawmakers sidestep serious issue

January 28, 2008

State negligent on smoking ban Lawmakers sidestep serious issue We’d like to think the demise of Rep. Charlie Brown’s bill that would have banned workplace smoking statewide was just another casualty of the property tax reform wave. More likely, the bill died because our legislators don’t have the will to tackle the sad state of Hoosier health. Brown’s bill died in a House committee Jan. 23 after a brief hearing in which testimony on the bill’s behalf was cut off…

VIEWPOINT: Improving health: more than a January fad

January 21, 2008

As I waited in line at the cafeteria just into the new year, I watched the man in front of me. It would be easy to assume the salad and wrap station would provide patrons with a healthful lunch option. Yet I saw a generous portion of fried chicken in a spinach tortilla topped with a pile of cheese and several servings of salad dressing. The man might have started with good intentions, but in a matter of seconds a…

NOTIONS: Read my lips: No taxes whatsoever. Nada. Zip.

December 10, 2007

I was driving through the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood when I spotted the sign. It was posted in the manicured front lawn of a brick bungalow on a wooded corner lot. It said: “Stop taxing our property.” At other nice houses up and down the same tree-lined street, other signs dotted other manicured lawns. Many of them bore the same message: “For Sale By Owner.” Below that, the signs cited the purported cause of the alleged listings: “excess taxation.” I had the…

WellPoint broadens push to improve health

December 3, 2007

WellPoint, Indiana’s largest health insurer, is making more noise than ever about what it’s doing to help improve Hoosiers’
and Americans’ health.

NOTIONS: Surefire CPR for the high cost of government

November 26, 2007

Last Saturday, my wife CherÃ and awoke to a beautiful fall day. Having no o b l i g a t i o n s , w decided to take spontaneous trip to Orange County, to see the restored West Baden Springs Hotel Despite the rash of stoplights on State Road 37 and a flurry of pre-game traffic for the Old Oaken Bucket clash, the drive was a breeze. CherÃ had never been to West Baden Springs. So the beautifully…

Ballard to review city’s art spending: Arts leaders concerned gains made during Peterson’s tenure will be lost

November 12, 2007

Mayor-elect Greg Ballard said he’s got nothing against spending city money on the arts, but his administration nevertheless will evaluate whether devoting $2.5 million to it each year is the best use of that money. “It’s OK to fund [the arts] as long as people are relatively safe in the city,” Ballard said. Though acknowledging Indianapolis’ “vibrant arts community,” Ballard said it’s mostly privately funded. “I’m not saying I’m going to cut all of the arts [funding],” he said. “We’ll…

Now solo, VP set to expand

November 5, 2007

Convenience store stalwart Village Pantry has launched a $15 million plan to renovate 146 stores and is eyeing acquisitions
that could double the chain’s size in three years. The moves come as Village Pantry separates from parent Marsh Supermarkets
Inc., a company that for years treated the convenience-store division as a redheaded stepchild.

WellPoint expects to reap M-Plan customers

October 24, 2007

WellPoint Inc. officials expect to win about 50,000 new customers from M-Plan Inc. as part of an endorsement deal the two health plans signed in September, WellPoint CEO Angela F. Braly said in a conference call with analysts this morning. WellPoint’s Indiana subsidiary, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, will pay a commission to M-Plan for […]

State feels pain from health care costs

October 15, 2007

Spending on health care is rising faster in Indiana than it is across the country. Yet the state’s job and income growth continue
to lag national norms.

Mental health parity gets closer to reality: Bill requires equal coverage in health insurance

October 8, 2007

Local mental health advocates are applauding a U.S. Senate bill passed last month that would require equal health insurance coverage for mental and physical ailments when policies cover both. The bill, which passed unanimously, moves advocates one step closer in their long-fought quest for a concept known as mental health parity. Mental Health America, formerly known as the National Mental Health Association, praised the passage as an opportunity to end discrimination against people with mental health disorders. Steve McCaffrey, president…

Wellness working for Goodwill workers: Despite high turnover rates, program cuts costs

October 8, 2007

Why pay to get employees healthy if they’re likely to leave in a few years? That used to be the killer question for wellness and disease management programs. But that attitude is changing. And employers like Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana are a good example of why. The not-for-profit, whose main mission is to help workers make a transition into other jobs, has enjoyed significant savings on health care costs even as it has ditched the employee-paid deductible on its…

Commentary: Get the smoke out of our eyes

September 24, 2007

Andy Jacobs Jr. wrote in an IBJ column that smoking is an expensive and painful way to commit suicide. He’s right. But he didn’t go far enough. Breathing secondhand smoke at one’s place of employment is also an expensive and painful way to go. The world is beginning to read the smoke signals. Many countries have passed laws to protect their work force from secondhand smoke. Today, you cannot smoke even in an Irish pub. In our country, 22 states…

Clarian Scales Back Employee Health Demands

September 13, 2007

Instead of charging its employees for failing to quit smoking, lose weight or improve other health factors, Clarian Health Partners now will give them incentives to change bad health habits. Beginning next year, Clarian had planned to charge employees $5 per paycheck-or $130 a year-if they smoked cigarettes and weren’t trying to quit. The hospital […]

Will hefty Hoosiers get up for green, healthy event?: Former producer of state flower and patio show plans first-ever Natural Living Expo in January

September 3, 2007

Todd Jameson knows how to get Hoosiers off the sofa. Up until two years ago, he was producer of the Indiana Flower and Patio Show and the Christmas Gift and Hobby Show-two of the most popular annual events in Indianapolis. But a dollar to a cholesterol-laden doughnut says his next gig will be his most difficult: getting some of the nation’s heaviest, most cigarette-addicted people off the couch and to the firstever Natural Living Expo, next January. Jameson figures the…

NOTIONS: Health: another troubled bridge over U.S. waters

August 13, 2007

On a bookshelf in my office, I display a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, three packs of Benson & Hedges cigarettes and the program from my late wife’s memorial service. I display the pasta because, until the company was spun off earlier this year, Kraft Foods was part of Altria Group. I display the Benson & Hedges because that brand is part of Phillip Morris USA, which is also part of Altria Group. I display the memorial-service program because…

MICKEY MAURER Commentary: The right men for a tough job

August 13, 2007

In response to the sticker shock experienced by many Hoosiers upon opening the envelope from the property-tax assessor, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced a number of major moves. He ordered new assessments in Marion County and other counties throughout the state; a tax bill freeze in these counties to the 2006 levy; and the creation of a commission on local government reform, co-chaired by Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard and former Gov. Joe Kernan. The mission of the commission…

NOTIONS: Oh, the things we worry about in modern America

July 9, 2007

My wife, Cheri, and I live in one of those newfangled, don’tstray-from-the-mainstream neighborhoods. It’s governed by wellmeaning “covenants and restrictions.” It has “architectural control guidelines.” These documents were formulated by a “development control committee” to “enhance the value and appearance of the community.” (We’re especially concerned with the “value” part, until our property-tax bills arrive, at which point we protest the assessed value.) Included among the controls in our neighborhood is a color palette. I imagine some designer back in…

Clarian to charge workers who smoke $5 per paycheck

June 25, 2007

Hospital network Clarian Health will begin charging its cigarette-smoking workers $5 per paycheck next year as punishment for the unhealthy habit. The fee applies to any worker covered by health insurance Clarian offers its employees. The smoking surcharge is part of a broader 2008 requirement by Clarian that each of its employees declare their health […]

PROFILE: KARLA SNEEGAS: Clearing the murky air ITPC director leads charge toward smoke-free Indiana

June 11, 2007

PROFILE KARLA SNEEGAS Clearing the murky air ITPC director leads charge toward smoke-free Indiana Karla Sneegas is primed for battle. With the fervor of an ancient Crusader, this pint-sized warrior is fighting a “just war” to reduce Indiana’s addiction to tobacco as executive director of the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation agency. At 4 feet, 11 inches, Sneegas is well-prepared for all foes. She’s armed with knowledge learned as a public health professional and as former director of South Carolina’s…

Tiptoe through the toxins becomes walk in the park: $600,000 in federal, state grants fund initiative to turn former industrial sites into recreation areas

June 4, 2007

Take a deep breath of that air, wafting with the fragrance of methylnaphthalene. And those violets-must be the lead and arsenic in the soil that give them such a lovely glow. Nothing quite refreshes like a stroll through a hazardous waste site. Or, in the eyes of state planners, make that a former hazardous waste site. The Indiana Brownfields Program will create the Indiana Brownfields Trails & Park Initiative. It will assess abandoned industrial and commercial properties with real or…

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