Month: August 2022

PITTSBURGH—

Thunderstorms rumbled through the Pittsburgh region Friday night, bringing heavy rainfall that led to flash flooding in several areas.

See the video above: Flash flooding in western Pennsylvania.

Between 2 and 4 inches of rain had fallen in some parts of western Pennsylvania as of 8 pm A flash flood warning from the National Weather Service remained in effect until late Friday night.

The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium was closed Saturday due to area flooding. The zoo expects to reopen on Sunday. Officials say all zoo animals remain safe from inclement weather.

A tree fell across Route 28, between Exit 6 (Highland Park Bridge/Aspinwall) and Exit 8 (Fox Chapel Road/Waterworks Drive/Freeport Road). All lanes of traffic in the area were blocked while police responded.

Not far away, flood waters covered Freeport Road near UPMC St. Margaret hospital. Three cars became stuck in the high water. No injuries were reported.

“(My car) never left the ground, just turned off,” said Taylor Brown. “There was never any water in the car.”

While fire crews had to move some of the vehicles to the side of the roadway, drivers said they did not need to be rescued.

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Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 viewers shared video and pictures of flooding in the Munhall area as well.

Flash flooding was also reported in the Greensburg and Unity Township areas of Westmoreland County. Pittsburgh’s Action Sports reporter Emily Giangreco shared video of high water near Route 30 and Sand Hill Road, and flood waters were rushing outside the Naser Foods store in Unity Township.

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The heavy rain prompted the Pittsburgh Steelers to cancel their night practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium, where thousands of fans had gathered to watch the training camp tradition make its return for the first time since 2019.

Please share photos of severe weather (if it’s safe in your location): Go to wtae.com/upload or share to the u local Pittsburgh Facebook group.

As of 1 pm Saturday, PennDOT said parts of the following state roads in Allegheny County were closed or restricted:

• Route 8 (Washington Boulevard) between Negley Run and Allegheny River boulevards in Pittsburgh (flood gates closed)

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• Democrats in Congress are poised to start voting this weekend on an inflation deal.
• But the deal doesn’t expand healthcare coverage for people with incomes close to the poverty level.
• About 800,000 Floridians will remain uninsured and the next shot at coverage might not be until 2024.

When Democrats in Congress announced last year that they were working on a massive spending bill to transform the social safety net in America, healthcare advocates in Florida were optimistic there might finally be a way to get medical coverage to more people.

Last week, however, their hopes were dashed. One of the many items to hit the cutting room floor in Democrats’ compromise $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act was a provision to sidestep Republican state legislators to expand Medicaid to almost 800,000 Floridians.

The omission is a big blow to Florida’s uninsured, particularly at a time when many are worried about a recession, and residents already are facing high costs at the grocery store and at the gas pump, as well soaring rental bills, healthcare advocates say.

“It’s definitely a missed opportunity, especially if the whole thing centers on inflation and the impacts of inflation,” Scott Darius, executive director at the nonprofit advocacy group Florida Voices for Health, told Insider.

Florida is among 12 Republican-led states that refuse to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Under the law, states pay 10% of costs while the federal government picks up 90% of the tab.

Florida isn’t likely to have a shot at expanding Medicaid until 2024 at the earliest. Florida healthcare advocates and Democrats have little faith that Republicans in the state legislature will change their position against Medicaid expansion, so they hope to put the question on a ballot in the 2024 election to have voters weigh in directly.

“The ballot measure is our best chance of getting Medicaid expansion passed,” state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Miami Gardens Democrat who sits on the state Senate’s health policy committee, told Insider.

“This should be the top priority for us, but the Republicans have shown us time and time again that they are not interested in what makes sense,” Jones added. “They are interested in what feeds their base.”

In 2021, President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package tried to sweeten the Medicaid deal by defraying state costs for two years, but Florida still didn’t go for it. Republican Gov. Ron. DeSantis’ office told the Washington Post in March 2021 that he “remains opposed to the expansion of Medicaid in Florida.”

The governor’s office and several other GOP leaders in the state legislature did not respond to Insider’s questions about whether any circumstances, such as a recession, could alter their stance on Medicaid expansion.

Republicans have raised concerns about picking up more healthcare costs, citing fears that the federal government might someday claw back Medicaid payments.

House Speaker Chris Sprowls, a Republican of Palm Harbor, said he thinks Medicaid should go only toward the most vulnerable residents, rather than be based on income, he told the Orlando Sentinel in March 2021.

Under Obamacare, people making $13,590 or less for an individual or $27,750 for a family of four qualify to enroll in Medicaid. This raises objections from Republicans given that it doesn’t factor in disability or work status.

Rev. Vanessa Tinsley, the executive director of Bridge to Hope, a Miami-based community organization whose services include a food program, said the narrative around people on Medicaid was not true. Many of the clients she serves have jobs and college degrees.

“It’s not about hard work — we have that here — but they work very hard at low paying jobs,” she said, adding that even though Florida raised the minimum wage it hasn’t kept up with soaring rents. One big medical issue can evaporate savings or raises, she said.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

US House version of Biden’s agenda cut price tag by more than half

For more than a year, Democrats in Congress explored ways to sidestep GOP lawmakers in Medicaid holdout states. An estimated 4 million people nationwide who are uninsured would be able to join Medicaid if all states expanded the program, according to a federal government report compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The US House’s $2 trillion Build Back Better Act passed in November 2021 came up with a solution to fill the Medicaid gap. It would have paid the full cost of premiums for private health insurance for people with earnings close to the poverty level.

But the provision was among many stripped out to create the Inflation Reduction Act, though the bill retained other healthcare policies on drug pricing and private health insurance for people with higher incomes who wouldn’t qualify for Medicaid.

The bill could still change. Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia is planning to introduce an amendment to help people who can’t access Medicaid. He’ll present the amendment during “vote-a-rama,” a marathon session of amendment votes that could end up changing the final draft of legislation. The Senate is considering the inflation deal at the beginning Saturday.

Florida Voices for Health is working with Southerners for Medicaid Expansion to push Congress this week to support Warnock’s amendment.

But conservative Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have been wary about increasing the price tag of the legislation. One estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found the Medicaid idea from the Build Back Better Act could cost the federal government $125 billion.

Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo

‘We might have to get creative’

Without a federal solution or an immediate ballot vote, the fate of Medicaid is in the hands of state lawmakers or voters.

Tinsley of Bridge to Hope said she was “terrified” of a recession given that she already sees people living on the brink. She knows families whose parents can’t get married because otherwise their children wouldn’t qualify for Medicaid, people who skip needed medications, or fathers with asthma who cannot afford health insurance and are left to borrow their children’s inhalers.

“The people in my food line used to be donors and volunteers,” Tinsley said. “Our resources are shrinking.”

Not being able to afford healthcare worsens people’s circumstance, she said. And many people across Florida who have to cut back on spending can only do so through lowering their grocery bills, she added. Often, less expensive foods are also less healthy, and that leads to problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure that in turn increase people’s healthcare bills.

DeSantis is up for reelection in Florida and is expected to win given that Florida Republicans have out-registered Democrats in the state by 220,000 people. Both Democrats running for the nomination on the August 23 primary to face him — Rep. Charlie Crist and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried — support Medicaid expansion.

Jones faces a primary opponent on August 23. If reelected, he plans to introduce a bill to expand Medicaid, he said. This round, however, he said he wants to try to see if there’s a way to come to a bipartisan deal as some other GOP-led states have done — particularly after hospitals and health insurers unified behind the effort.

“We might have to get creative,” he said.

A 29-year-old Los Angeles bank executive was one of three people killed when lightning struck Lafayette Park in Washington, DC, across the street from the White House.

Brooks Lambertson, a vice president for City National Bank, was in the nation’s capital on business when he was struck by lightning Thursday night. A Wisconsin couple celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary were also struck.

Lambertson managed sponsorships for the bank for the last three years and previously worked in marketing for the Los Angeles Clippers, according to a statement from the bank.

He attended high school in Folsom in Northern California before graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he majored in recreation, parks and tourism administration, with a concentration in sports management.

“Brooks was an incredible young man who will be remembered for his generosity, kindness and unwavering positivity,” the bank’s statement said. “His sudden loss of him is devastating for all who knew him, and his family, friends and colleagues appreciate the thoughts and prayers that have poured in from around the country.”

Representatives of the Secret Service and the US Park Police witnessed the lightning strike about 7 pm Thursday in the park, which is just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

They administered first aid before the victims were rushed to a hospital. The White House issued a statement of condolences to the victims’ families.

The Wisconsin couple — James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75 — had five children, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, according to their niece.

Donna Mueller was a retired teacher and her husband a retired contractor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.