SURPRISING STUFF
The Veterans Administration and Medicare are both very quickly going private.
What does that mean for people who receive their care through these programs? It means that serious care (in the case of VA hospitals, it means where not all procedures are performed inside), must first be approved, and then it must go through a private insurance company for that company’s approval and certification. Once again, as in many HMO packages run or purchased by private concerns, it means that only certain providers are allowed.
Prior to this supposed cost-saving change, any licensed provider was allowed (although all providers had the option of not accepting Medicare or VA-backed patients). There is absolutely no chance that adding private insurers to the mix of these programs will save any money. Quite the opposite. Private medical care in the United States is the most expensive in the world, by a function of five, and it is among the most inconvenient to attempt to work with everyone concerned. Be prepared to deal with this new change if you need serious medical procedures now or in the future.
Many citizens of Lake Geneva wonder why the cemetery board was dissolved.
The committee that once operated the city’s cemeteries under the supervision of the city council is now the responsibility of the public works director, Tom Earle. The cemetery committee handled all sales of lots, researching lot records, using funds according to its discretion in caring for and improving cemetery fencing, buildings, public monuments, and upkeep. The public works department has not been given an extra employee to handle the uptick in their work or requests for research associated with the cemeteries. If, in the middle of a regular project (like road repair or plowing), they aren’t always able to stop and help with the cemetery work gets pushed back until there’s some downtime.
This simple and understandable fact has many citizens concerned, and they would like an answer to why the cemetery committee is no longer around to monitor and manage things. Since then, genealogy has become a larger interest than ever before, and the calls flooding cemeteries with questions about family and other ancestors have increased significantly.
This very subject was brought up at the public works meeting last week in public comments and was supported by that committee to investigate how to bring the cemetery board back. In fact, the ordinance for the cemetery committee is still in existence, as if they never stopped meeting. The topic was continued to next month’s meeting so hopefully, the citizens will get answers. It has subsequently been discovered that the board was never really ‘dissolved’ at all, it was merely left to lay there on its own as the members of the board either died or quit. There is no need for a new board. There is only a need to find people to staff it.
Lake Picture of the Week
A wonderful view of Geneva Lake from the Riviera on a sunny Monday morning.
