A group of small nursery school children sitting on floor indoors in classroom, raising hands. Keystone State News Service.
Danielle Smith

As families enrolled in Medicaid transition to the Children’s Health Insurance Program, it is important for them to know Pennsylvania has changed how it will process enrollees.

Becky Ludwick, vice president of public policy for the group Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, said families who want to enroll their children should be aware starting today, the Department of Human Services is going to be deciding who qualifies for the program.

She emphasized they are very concerned about the timing the department has chosen to make changes in the midst of the Medicaid unwinding.

“They’re going to be processing all new applications for CHIP, as well as all of the renewals for the more than 130,000 CHIP families that are currently enrolled,” Ludwick noted. “As of Monday, CHIP families will need to go through DHS instead of the CHIP health insurance plans to determine eligibility.”

Ludwick pointed out a number of different ways families can enroll such as via phone or the county assistance offices, or online applications through the Department of Human Service’s Compass website, as well as the Compass mobile app.

Ludwick explained the program can cover any uninsured child who is not eligible for the state Medical Assistance or Medicaid programs. She noted no family makes or earns too much money to qualify for CHIP, and the state determines which families are eligible to receive no-cost monthly coverage.

“There’s a free level where families don’t pay any monthly premium or any copays,” Ludwick explained. “Actually, the majority of families fall into that category. But then there are other categories of CHIP where they would have to pay a small fee for their child to be enrolled.”

Ludwick said there is no deadline to sign up for CHIP. It is an ongoing process, so families can enroll year round. She stressed with continuous coverage, and some provisions ending, there is a lot going on right now in the health insurance landscape, and they are working to get the word out, so families know where to go to sign up for CHIP.

FILE – The Coco Palms Resort retail annex where one shop on the second floor was gutted by fire in Wailua on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, is pictured on Dec. 3, 2009. Demolition will soon begin on the resort once favored by both Hawaiian and Hollywood royalty before it was heavily damaged by a hurricane three decades ago. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports the Coco Palms Resort on the island of Kauai will be torn down for a new 350-room hotel. Construction is expected to take about three years. (Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island via AP, File)

HONOLULU (AP) — Demolition will soon begin on a resort once favored by Elvis Presley and other Hollywood royalty before it was heavily damaged by a hurricane three decades ago. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports the Coco Palms Resort on the island of Kauai will be torn down for a new 350-room hotel. Construction is expected to take about three years. The resort is where Elvis Presley and Joan Blackman’s characters married in the 1961 movie “Blue Hawaii.” It was frequented by Hollywood stars like Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Bing Crosby. The 46-acre grounds were once home to Kauai’s last queen. A cultural center is planned to honor the property’s history.

FILE – Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ron Hextall takes questions during his end-of-season NHL hockey news conference, Monday, May 23, 2022, in Cranberry Township, Butler County, Pa. The Penguins fired Hextall on Friday, April 14, 2023, after the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins have fired general manager Ron Hextall, director of hockey operations Brian Burke and assistant general manager Chris Pryor after the club failed to reach the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. The decision came after a disappointing season in which Pittsburgh went 40-31-11. The Penguins finished ninth in the Eastern Conference to end the longest active postseason streak in major North American professional sports. Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry and company chairman Tom Werner said in a joint statement that “the team will benefit from new hockey operations leadership.”

FILE – Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters following a closed-door policy meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 28, 2023. McConnell will be back at work in the Capitol on Monday, April 17, almost six weeks after a fall at a Washington-area hotel and undergoing extended treatment for a concussion. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell will be back at work in the U.S. Capitol on Monday, almost six weeks after a fall at a Washington-area hotel and undergoing extended treatment for a concussion. The 81-year-old Kentucky Republican has been recovering at home since he was released from a rehabilitation facility March 25. He fell after attending an event earlier that month, injuring his head and fracturing a rib. On Friday he visited his office for the first time since his injury, and is expected to be working a full schedule in the Senate this week.

FILE – A portion of the 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return form is shown July 24, 2018, in New York. The IRS has been tasked with looking into how to create a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system for all. Congress has directed the IRS to report in on how such a system might work. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s that time of year when throngs of taxpayers are buckling down to file their income tax returns before Tuesday’s filing deadline, and many often pay to use software from private companies such as Intuit and H&R Block. Almost one-quarter of Americans wait until the last minute to file their taxes. There could be a new, free option in future years. The IRS has been tasked with looking into how to create a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system for all. But that doesn’t sit well with the big tax-prep companies. The idea has been batted around and hotly debated for a long time. Congress now has directed the IRS to report in on how such a system might work.

The Rev. Dale Snyder sits in the pews at Bethel AME Church where he is pastor, in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Bethel, considered Pittsburgh’s oldest Black congregation, lost its previous sanctuary when much of Pittsburgh’s historic Lower Hill District was razed in the 1950s, making way for an arena and expressway in an urban renewal project. More than 60 years later, in what’s being called a step toward “restorative justice,” the church is poised to obtain use of a 1.5-acre parcel near its former site in an agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team has reached an agreement with a historic Black church to provide it development rights to a 1.5-acre parcel near the church’s former property. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church’s old sanctuary was demolished along with much of the surrounding Black neighborhood in the 1950s in a now-lamented urban-renewal project. The Penguins hold development rights in the area near the arena where they currently play. Bethel says public authorities compensated it in the 1950s for a fraction of its property’s value. The Penguins only came in existence a decade after that happened. But the agreement is being called “restorative justice.”

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing a $6.23 million improvement project on Route 65 (Mercer Avenue/Mercer Road) is underway in North Sewickley and Daugherty townships and New Brighton Borough, Beaver County.

Single-lane alternating traffic will on Route 65 between Route 18 (5th Avenue) in New Brighton Borough and Route 588 (Concord Church Road/Bennetts Run Road) daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through April of 2025.

Work on this $6.23 million Route 65 project will include milling and resurfacing, base repairs, guide rail updates, drainage improvements, structure replacement over Bennetts Run, sign and pavement markings, ADA ramps, signal updates, and other miscellaneous construction between Route 18 (Third Avenue) in New Brighton Borough and Route 588 (Bennetts Run Road) in North Sewickley Township. Work began in March with short term single lane closures along Route 65. Next year motorists can expect a full closure and detour between Foster Road/Bologne Valley Road and Oakland Drive as crews replace the structure over Bennetts Run. Overall work will conclude in the spring of 2025.

Jeff Bost and Dr. Maroon talk about transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS, and depression topics this week on “Living Well”.

Dr. Joseph Maroon is a world renown neurosurgeon with extensive experience in neurosurgery. He specializes in minimally invasive surgery to speed recovery for his patients. He is a sports medicine expert and innovator in concussion management, personal fitness and nutrition. Dr. Maroon is also the Pittsburgh Steelers team doctor.

Jeff Bost is a consultant to the St. Barnabas Health System. Bost is also a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Neurosurgery at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a consultant to the WWE, and Clinical Assistant Professor at Chatham University. He has a special interest in minimally invasive spine and brain surgery and have collaborated on scores of scientific medical papers and books in these areas. Over the last 15 years he has researched, lectured and written on the use of alternative treatment for pain control.

Bost, along with Dr. Joseph Maroon have authored two books on the use of omega-3 fish oil, including: Fish Oil: The Natural Anti-Inflammatory, currently in its forth printing with over 75,000 copies sold and recently, Why You Need Fish Oil. He has given over 100 invited lectures, 24 national posters and oral presentations, 29 coordinated research projects, five workshops presentations, 35 scientific articles and 10 book chapters.

You can rune into “Living Well” every Saturday morning at 8:30 on 95.7 and 99.3 FM, 1230 WBVP, 1460 WMBA, and beavercountyradio.com.

You can also listen to all previous episodes of “Living Well” by going to beavercountyradio.com clicking on the Listen Live Button, Then chose Beaver County Radio and click on Podcasts in the upper right hand corner.

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In this weeks episode of Highmark Heroes, Jim Roddey speaks to Dr. James McCormick, who is a surgeon specializing in colon and rectal surgery. He is System Chief, Colon and Rectal Surgery, Allegheny Health Network. Roddey also speaks with Dr. Gursimran Kochhar, MD, Division Chief and Director of Interventional Endoscopy, at Allegheny Health Network’s Allegheny General Hospital.  Later in the show Roddey is joined by Eric Zahren, the President of the Andrew Carnegie Hero Fund.

“Heroes” is presented by Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the Allegheny Health Network, airing Saturdays at 10:00 AM and Sundays at 12:30 PM on Beaver County Radio. Archived editions of “Heroes” can be heard at the Beaver County Radio Podcast Library.

 

Pastor David Grove of the Church of the Redeemed of Beaver Valley provides a message on the importance of honoring God, this Saturday on “Wake Up Beaver Valley”.

“Wake Up Beaver Valley” airs every Saturday morning from 9 AM to 10 AM on Beaver County Radio and is presented by the Church of The Redeemed of Beaver Valley. Archived editions of “Wake Up Beaver Valley” can be heard at the Beaver County Radio Podcast Library.