 |
| A.M.
Costa Rica Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
|
Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for more details |
| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |
|
San
José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
 |
 |
|
Our readers' opinions
Arenal expat is very happyliving here in retirement Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I have lived in Nuevo Arenal for more than 15-years. I think I get by very well living on Social Security. I wake up every morning pleased with my life. I praise God for letting me be born in the United States of America and for giving me the wisdom to select Costa Rica to live out my years. I selected Costa Rica because I did not see a military presence or people living in the streets and begging. I selected Nuevo Arenal to live after traveling throughout Costa Rica. I selected Nuevo Arenal because of its weather, beauty, Lake Arenal and the low number of residents. I designed and built my home and landscaped my garden. Everyday I enjoy the results of my efforts with great pleasure. Never have I had a problem with robbers. However, my home has an alarm system, is never without a sitter if I am gone overnight and my valued belongings are kept secured. I recently married Marita, a Tica with a very large family, and am happy to be a residente permanente. Alberto
Almeida
Nuevo Arenal Senator's remarks not correct about unemployment recipients Dear A.M. Costa Rica: A news story said: “'People who are offered a job will take a job. The jobs are not there. It is not the fault of these families. It is not the fault of these job-seekers. We should not be punishing them,' said Sen. Edward Markey." This is pretty much untrue. Many people are unwilling to move cross country to find work in areas where there is work. They are unwilling to leave their families and their homes. Many will not take a job that pays less than unemployment. My experience with unemployment came in 1986 during the oil/energy crash. I went on unemployment after working for a seismic exploration company. I can tell you, it is very easy to get into the rut of living off the government. I didn't get serious about finding work until I knew the freebies were running out. At that time, I was willing to take any job and ended up throwing a sleeping bag in the back of my covered pickup and moving from Denver to San Francisco to take a job there. I couldn't afford an apartment after being unemployed six months, so I spent the next four years living out of various vehicles. It wasn't comfortable or easy, but it can be done. Sometimes you need to be pushed out of the nest. Dan
Jackson
Calhan, Colorado Why are so many people just getting by in Costa Rica? Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I totally agree with both Bob Stone and David Fullman but I'll go one further. The government of Costa Rica's inept and corrupt behavior affects expats greatly and unnecessarily with seemingly little regard for what is best for Costa Rica. It's ridiculous, really. The greater harm is done against the Costa Rican people though. Just imagine a country that can easily provide more than enough food, water and energy for all its people in a very temperate climate with no standing military to support in which so many are poor and barely getting by. How could that be? What a joke. Albert
Lusk
San Isidro, Heredia Prices are higher than in U.S. and above those in Panamá Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I have to agree with the letter that David Fullman wrote except for the paying of U.S. prices here. I don't know where he has shopped in the U.S. New York City?? I do most of my shopping in Hannibal, Missouri. The prices are from 50 percent to as much as 400 percent higher here except for farmers market stuff. I just got back from Panamá where the roads are better and the gas is $1.30 cheaper than here. A small box of candy that sells here for 3,500 colon ($7) was $1.99 there just for example. I don't know what the politicians are thinking when they make you leave after 90 days. Oh, yow, I forgot they expected us to all pay $1,000 to $$$?? who knows what to the Caja. My four-day vacation to Panamá with my wife cost a little over $800. If I did not have to leave the country, that would have been spent in Costa Rica and with their total tax rate of 55.3 percent it would have added over $440 to the coffers. The leaving Costa Rica to renew your passport is a fiasco. No one seems to know what the law really is, especially the border people. I have read one day is fine, 72 hours if you want your $500 duty free. We asked the man who stamped my passport, and he obviously did not know. Said he gave me a 90-day stamp but that I was supposed to go back to where my home in the U.S. is to get the 90 days. If you can get a copy of the law and put it in the A.M. Costa Rica you would be doing all of the expats a big favor. Robert
Woodrow
Curridabat EDITOR'S NOTE: We have published articles about the law, and Mr. Woodrow is correct about the time periods. But border officials also seem to make up their own rules. Woman died when vehicle plunges off road down slope By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A 35-year-old woman died Sunday afternoon when the car in which she was riding was in an accident and then went down a 200-meter slope. That's about 665 feet. The mishap was in San Ignacio de Acosta. The woman's daughter, 14, and a sister, 17 suffered injuries as did the driver, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. The woman was identified by the last name of Quirós. Parts of body are turning up in an illegal Boruca dump By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Various body parts of a man turned up in an illegal dump in Boruca, Buenos Aires de Puntarenas, said judicial agents. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that a woman passing by the location Sunday noticed a hand sticking out of a bag. She called police. Agents went through the refuse and turned up a human head in another bag. Then Monday searchers located another body part, they reported. Agents were expected to return to the location today for more searching.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
|
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 9 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
 Downtown
street scene
|
 Banco
Anglo Costarricense. San José, 1922.
|
| Exhibit of early 20th century photos will
run until Jan. 30 |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The country as it was in 1922 is on display via photos by one of the nation's pioneer photo documentalists. The 35 photos of buildings that still exist and some that do not will be on display until Jan. 30. The location is the Centro Internacional para la Conservación del Patrimonio on the San José downtown pedestrian mall. The Centro is an agency of the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud. The photographer is Manuel Gómez Miralles, who lived from 1876 to 1965. From his extensive inventory, completely documented and annotated, he seems to have taken photos of every interesting building, event and disaster in the country for years. Many of his works are on glass plates, the technology of the time. They are in assorted archives, including those at the |
University de Costa Rica, the Centro
and private holdings. He documented the damage of the Cartago earthquake in 1910, an explosion in the country's prison in 1917, assorted fires and other tragedies, including the 1926 Río Virilla rail disaster that killed 360. The Centro is the agency that provides money for restoring historic buildings, hence the interest in architecture and history. Rosa Malavassi is the coordinator of the exhibition. The Centro said that the idea is to let those living here and tourists compare the past with what exists now. That way the public can see how buildings have been cared for and not cared for, it said. Gómez is the go-to source for the history of the area because of his good record keeping. He did the bulk of his work between 1910 and 1950. He is considered the founder of photo journalism in Costa Rica. |
| Employers warned not to influence
electoral choice of workers |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Employers may be tempted to encourage their workers to vote for a free market presidential candidate. That is a no no, said the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones Monday. The Tribunal said that the Código de Trabajo forbids employers from influencing the electoral choices of workers, it noted. The statement was prompted, perhaps, by the good showing of Frente Amplio candidate José María Villata Florez-Estrada in the opinion polls. He has much of the commercial establishment seeking an alternative candidate. Some are promoting the Movimiento Libertario candidate Otto Guevara Guth. Others say they prefer Rudolfo Piza de Rocafort of the Partido Unidad Social |
Cristiana. And, of course,
others are backing Johnny Araya Monge of Partido Liberación
Nacional. Villalta has called for an increase in the minimum wages set by the government, a renegotiation of the free trade treaty with the United States and higher taxes. He also has supported price controls during his term at the legislature. Opponents paint him as a Communist. The officials at the Tribunal also may be remembering the 2007 referendum for the free trade treaty when employers threatened workers with loss of jobs if the pact was not approved. Some companies also provided transportation to the polls. The treaty was narrowly ratified. Now the Tribunal said that any workers who feel they have been pressured by an employer can file a complaint. |
| Training is Thursday for those helping
U.S. citizens vote |
|
|
Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
The U.S. Federal Voting Assistance Program plans a workshop Thursday for U.S. citizen community leaders and federal employees who provide voting assistance to U.S. citizens, the U.S. Embassy said Monday. This will be a hands-on, interactive training session to provide the critical information, resources and tools that participants |
will need to perform their
responsibilities successfully, the embassy said. The workshop will be at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Los Laureles, Escazú, from 1 to 3 p.m. with Scott Wiedmann of the voting assistance program serving as trainer. U.S. citizens will be voting Nov. 4 for all seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and a third of the U.S. Senate seats. |
 |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
 |
|
||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 9 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| Tourists collecting sea shells now considered an
environmental threat |
|
|
By
the University of Florida news service
Global tourism has increased fourfold over the last 30 years, resulting in human-induced sea shell loss that may harm natural habitats worldwide, according to a University of Florida scientist. Appearing in the journal PLOS ONE Wednesday, the new study by researchers from the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus and the University of Barcelona demonstrates that increased tourism on the Mediterranean coast of Spain correlated with a 70 percent decrease in mollusk shells during the tourist season in July and August and a 60 percent decrease in other months. Scientists fear shell removal could cause significant damage to natural ecosystems and organisms that rely on shells, said lead author Michal Kowalewski of the Florida Museum. “This research is best described as a case study that evaluates shell loss due to tourism and then explores how this process may affect natural habitats,” Kowalewski said. “It’s too early to tell whether this depletion is substantial enough to trigger major environmental changes. However, our results suggest that we should not ignore this issue.” In the study, researchers conducted multiple monthly surveys from 1978 to 1981 and from 2008 to 2010 on Llarga Beach, a small stretch of shoreline on the coast of Spain. Based on area hotel sales data, researchers estimate the number of tourists visiting the beach increased threefold over the last 30 years, with most visits during the summer. Over the same time period, the number of shells on the beach decreased by more than 60 percent. The survey area has experienced no new commercial fisheries or urban development since the 1970s, suggesting human activity unrelated to tourism is unlikely to have contributed substantially to the shell loss, Kowalewski said. Changes in ecosystem structure and local environmental conditions, which could potentially contribute to a natural decrease in shell numbers, were not observed, he said. Shell removal at Llarga Beach was higher during the summer, and shells were more abundant during the winter when fewer tourists visited the area. |
Although a popular
destination, the beach is not a major tourist
hot spot, and the shells found there are not beautiful, diverse or
valuable to collectors. If a relationship between increased tourism and
accelerated shell removal can be detected at a place that is not famous
for its shells, it is likely that beaches known for their shells and
frequented by collectors have had more substantial impact, Kowalewski
said. “Although significant research has been done on the impacts of human activity on live shellfish, including, recreational harvesting and curio collecting, we are still lacking rigorous studies estimating the scale of shell removal by humans,” Kowalewski said. “Shells are remarkable in that they serve multiple functions in natural ecosystems, from beach stabilization to building materials for bird nests.” Shells also provide a home or attachment surface for diverse marine organisms, including algae, seagrass, sponges and other micro- and macro-organisms. Hermit crabs use shells as their protective armor, while fish use shells to hide from predators. These discarded exoskeletons of mollusks, including clams and oysters, are also important because most are made of calcium carbonate and in many coastal habitats they dissolve slowly and recycle back into the ocean. The study may prompt more systematic assessments of shell removal by tourists, said Geerat Vermeij, a mollusk shell expert and professor of geology with the University of California Davis who was not involved in the study. “Molluscan shells are of prime importance to hermit crabs, and although sand beaches are not good places for such crabs, dead snail shells on mud-flats and rocky shores do form a primary resource for abundant hermit crabs,” Vermeij said. “More subtly, many small organisms settle on dead shells, and so removing such shells will eliminate habitats for these colonists.” Though tourism-related shell loss may one day prove harmful, Kowalewski said more rigorous quantitative case studies are needed to fully understand the impact and develop reliable beach management practices aimed at shell protection. Some countries already recognize the negative effects of shell removal, including the Bahamas, which limits the quantity of shells tourists can export without special permits. |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
 |
||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 9 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
 |
|
| India ready to receive status of being free of polio cases By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
For three years, India has not recorded a new case of polio, a critical achievement that puts the entire region on target to be certified polio-free. Eradicating the crippling disease from India has been one of the greatest challenges in the global effort, costing $2 billion since 1995. Before then, the disease claimed 50,000 to 100,000 victims every year, according to the World Health Organization, mostly children under 5 years old. “There were many critics who felt it was impossible to eradicate polio from India,” said Steve Cochi, senior advisor in the global immunization division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. High population density, frequent migration, poor sanitation and weak health systems made fighting the disease a challenge. Indian Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad credited the landmark achievement to “unwavering political will at the highest level, commitment of adequate financial resources, technological innovations as well as efforts of millions of workers.” India falls under the World Health Organization’s Southeast Asia region, and the organization will meet in March to discuss certifying the region as polio-free. One of the biggest challenges was overcoming disruptive rumors among some minority populations that the vaccine would harm their children, official said. The campaign recruited academic, religious and community leaders, in some cases traveling house-to-house along with vaccinators, to dispel myths. “It took some time, and some effort, but these things always do,” Cochi said. “I think that represents one of the most outstanding success stories, not only for India but for the world.” Convincing skeptical neighborhoods also required broadening the services the campaign provided. "Communities have more issues other than polio," said Carol Pandak, director of Rotary International's polio eradication program. She says Rotary clubs sponsored health camps to provide vaccines for polio as well as other diseases, along with other health services. They also enlisted thousands of community members living in polio hotspots to talk to their neighbors and make the case for vaccination. "They could talk to their fellow community members unlike an outsider could," she added. Lessons learned in India are being applied in other trouble spots. In Pakistan, for example, where several vaccinators have been killed, the campaign is enlisting prominent Muslim leaders to support the eradication effort. Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the last three countries where polio transmission has never stopped. Virus from Pakistan caused an outbreak in Syria last year that claimed 17 victims. Fighting in Al-Raqa has interrupted a vaccination campaign aimed at containing the outbreak. In a statement, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund condemned the interruption and called on “all parties to cease fighting immediately and permit completion of the life-saving polio campaign and delivery of other life-saving humanitarian interventions.” The largest outbreak last year was in Somalia with 183 cases. The virus also spilled over and triggered outbreaks in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. Congressional right commission will hear from victims' relatives By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The mother of a jailed Vietnamese labor activist and the wife of a imprisoned Chinese human rights lawyer are expected to be among those testifying this week before a U.S. Congressional commission. Thursday's hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission will address the plight of prisoners of conscience around the world, including Vietnam and China. Tran Thi Ngoc Minh, mother of Do Thi Minh Hanh, will join activists and others testifying before the Lantos Commission, a caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives. Minh Hanh a 28-year-old labor rights activist was imprisoned in 2010 for a seven-year term for distributing leaflets supporting workers demanding better pay and conditions. Her mother said her daughter had suffered badly in prison including being beaten because she refused to perform forced labor. She said her daughter's health has deteriorated significantly but requests for medical care have been rejected by the prison staff. Also scheduled to testify Thursday is Geng He, the wife of Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Meanwhile, a Vietnamese-American human rights group, Boat People SOS, is starting a campaign against torture and seeking the release of prisoners of conscience in Vietnam. Boat People founder Nguyen Dinh Thang said that he hopes the congressional hearing will explore possible strategies for gaining the release of Vietnamese prisoners of conscience like Ms. Minh Hanh. He says his group will bring witnesses and reports on rights abuses from independent groups and individuals in Vietnam to the attention of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, the U.S. State Department, and international rights groups. "Torture has become alarmingly popular in Vietnam which is a big concern to the U.S., U.N., and many other democratic nations." Founded in 1980, Boat People is a U.S.-based international organization that has published a number of reports on human rights in Vietnam. West Virginia still struggles with tainted drinking water By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
For the fifth consecutive day, 300,000 residents in and around the U.S. city of Charleston, West Virginia, have been left without access to clean water after a chemical spill contaminated the Elk River. Schools and businesses remain closed as a result of the spill, which has stained the area’s water blue-green and made it smell like licorice. Officials have no timeline for when the water will be safe to use, but West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said Sunday the clean-up effort has been positive and an end to the crisis is in sight. "Our team has been diligent in testing samples from throughout the affected area. The numbers look good, and like last night, they are very encouraging. I believe that we are at a point where we can say that we see light at the end of the tunnel. I ask all West Virginians to continue to be patient as we work to safely restore service to the affected areas,” said Tomblin. State officials warned residents not to use tap water for anything other than flushing toilets. "We have a baby and so we are trying to find water for him for formula. It really does not matter for us, we are just trying to make sure he has what he needs," said West Virginia resident Beverly Hager. Freedom Industries is the company responsible for the chemical spill. Twenty-eight thousand liters (7,500 gallons) of a foaming agent used in the coal preparation process leaked into the river on Jan. 9. The toxic chemical then traveled downstream from Freedom Industries to a nearby water treatment plant. Kent Carper, president of the Kanawha County Commission, said, ''The condition of the plant was not good... and the danger was known to the previous owner and the danger was known to the current owner." "It's kind of a sweet smell, almost. It smells almost like candy," said one woman who is a local resident. Tap water in the area is now stained blue-green, and smells sickly sweet. "People were coming in here asking me what that smell was, you know. I said, 'You know, it is licorice," said local business owner Fred Petry. Schools and many businesses remain closed, as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the West Virginia Army National Guard have delivered nearly one million liters of bottled water to the area. U.S. jet again touches down at the wrong nearby airport By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
For the second time in less than two months, a large jet has landed at the wrong airport in the United States. A Southwest Airlines jet carrying 124 passengers and five crew members was headed Sunday night from Chicago to an airport at the small city of Branson, Missouri. But pilots landed it 11 kilometers away at another airport. One woman on the flight said the plane had a rough landing on a runway that was about half as long as the one at the airport where the flight was supposed to land. "Well, we had a really rough landing, we were all like moving pretty close to the seats as we were landing because the runway, I guess, is too short for the plane. And so then they just came on and said that we had landed at the wrong runway,'' she said. No one was injured in the incident, but U.S. air safety officials are investigating. In November, the pilot of a jumbo Boeing 747 cargo jet landed it at a small airport in the midwestern state of Kansas, missing its planned destination at a military base 13 kilometers away. Training experiment shows boost in older adult thinking By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Just a little cognitive training goes a long way toward stemming mental decline in older adults, according to new research. Mental decline is a leading factor in reducing quality of life for the elderly, the study says. According to the findings, older adults who received just 10 sessions of different types of cognitive training were better at reasoning and other mental tasks 10 years after the sessions when compared to a control group who received no training. For a group that received booster sessions over the next three years, the results were even more positive, the research said. "Showing that training gains are maintained for up to 10 years is a stunning result because it suggests that a fairly modest intervention in practicing mental skills can have relatively long-term effects beyond what we might reasonably expect," said lead author George Rebok of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, in a statement. The new data from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study comes 10 years after an initial group of 2,832 participants with an average age of 73.6 years were divided into four groups. One group consisted of memory training in which they were given tips for remembering word lists, the order of items, and to remember the gist of texts. Another group received reasoning training, involving instruction for how to solve problems that follow patterns, which researchers say is useful for reading bus schedules or completing order forms. A third group received speed-of processing training, using a computer to test the ability to locate visual information quickly. This kind of task, researchers say, is useful for looking up phone numbers or making quick decisions while driving. A fourth, or control group, received no training. The three groups all received training in small groups in 10 sessions of 60 to 75 minutes each over five to six weeks. The researchers found that 10 years later, each group that received training had less difficulty with instrumental activities of daily living such as taking medication, cooking or keeping tabs on financial activities. About 60 percent of the trained participants were at or above their starting level of function regarding these kinds of activities. This compares to just 50 percent for the control group. Reasoning and speed-of-processing performance also showed significant improvements for those who received training. Memory performance, however, did not seem to last for the full 10 years. Those participants scored better than their untrained peers after five years, but after 10 years, there was not much difference with the control group. The study also showed that those who received training boosters 11 and 35 months after the initial training showed improvement in reasoning and speed-of-processing. The National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the study, said the findings could have implications for the elderly and those who take care of them. “Now, these longer term results indicate that particular types of cognitive training can provide a lasting benefit a decade later, said institute director Richard J. Hodes in a statement. “They suggest that we should continue to pursue cognitive training as an intervention that might help maintain the mental abilities of older people so that they may remain independent and in the community.” The findings are published today in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Six more cases reported in wave of new bird flu By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Six more people in China have been confirmed as infected with the new H7N9 strain of bird flu and one of them has died, the World Health Organization said on Monday. Three of the other five patients are hospitalized in either serious or critical condition, while the remaining two have mild symptoms, the United Nations health agency said in a disease outbreak update. H7N9 bird flu emerged last year in China and has infected about 150 people there so far, and in Taiwan and Hong Kong, killing at least 46 of them. The latest death was a 38-year-old man from China's Fujian Province who became ill with H7N9 on Jan. 3, was admitted to hospital on Jan. 8 but died two days later. He had underlying illnesses, including tuberculosis and pneumoconiosis. China's state news agency Xinhua reported another death from H7N9 in the southwestern Guizhou province Monday, but this has yet to be confirmed by World Health. A 65-year-old man infected with H7N9 also died in Hong Kong, the government said Monday. This death has also yet to be confirmed by World Health. World Health reiterated there is no evidence as yet of any easy or sustained person-to-person transmission of the strain, and that the source of the human infections is still under investigation. Researchers in the United States said last month that while it is not impossible that H7N9 could become easily transmissible between people, it would need to undergo multiple mutations to do that. Scientists around the world are keeping a watchful eye, on alert for any sign the virus might develop that potential and start to spread rapidly. Obamacare success depending on signups by younger enrollees By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Now that more than 2 million people have signed up for private insurance plans created by President Barack Obama's healthcare law, a crucial next check-up for the new marketplace will be to see how old customers are. Early data from a handful of state exchanges shows the administration needs more young adults to sign up in the next three months to help offset costs from older enrollees and prevent insurers from raising their rates. Critics of Obama's Affordable Care Act say the market won't attract enough young people to keep it financially viable, putting more pressure on government funds to compensate for any insurer losses. Data from seven states and the District of Columbia, which are running their own marketplaces, show that of more than 200,000 enrollees, nearly 22 percent are 18 to 34 years old. The administration had hoped that over 38 percent, or 2.7 million, of all enrollees in 2014 would be 18 to 35 years old, based on a Congressional Budget Office estimate that 7 million people would sign up by the end of March. “The whole insurance relationship is counting on them signing up,” said Dale Yamamoto, an independent healthcare actuarial consultant. “Otherwise rates will have to increase.” The picture from the initial state data is likely to change, since it mostly includes people who enrolled only through November, before a year-end surge of sign-ups for people wanting coverage effective Jan 1. Many experts speculate the early enrollees were more likely to be in urgent need of coverage, and therefore more likely to be older or sicker. A recent survey by The Commonwealth Fund, a healthcare research foundation, found that 41 percent of those who had shopped at the various state marketplaces by the end of December were ages 19 to 34, up from 32 percent from an October survey. One marketplace with current data, the District of Columbia, said on Friday that of the 3,646 enrollees in private plans through Thursday, about 44 percent are young adults. Healthcare experts say many young healthy people may sign up only at the end of enrollment on March 31 to avoid paying the law's penalty for not having health insurance. The Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, prevents insurers from charging people more if they have a health problem. Age is one of the few factors that can affect the price, with insurers allowed to charge up to three times more for a 64-year-old than someone in their early 20s. But the healthcare costs for a 64-year-old on average are nearly five times as much as a 21-year-old, according to a study of claims from three large insurers Yamamoto conducted for the Society of Actuaries. “The more that the marketplace is able to attract a broad mix of enrollees including the young and healthy, the more that costs will be sustainable and premiums will be more affordable,” said Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America's Health Insurance plans, a trade group for insurers. Other factors may be as crucial, if not more, in determining the stability of the new market, including the health status of enrollees, regardless of their age, and how that lines up with what individual insurers had projected. But those details will only become clearer later in the year based on the medical claims filed by the newly insured, making age the best early proxy about whether the market is sustainable. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the marketplace for 36 states, has yet to provide any demographic data about enrollees. It is expected to release an enrollment report later this month. Data may come sooner from insurers as they discuss their recent financial performance with investors in the next few weeks. Humana, Inc., said Thursday that the mix of enrollment in its marketplace plans were likely to be more adverse than previously expected. But healthcare experts say insurers need a better mix of enrollees than seen in the early data. “If a quarter or more of the enrollees are young adults, I would think that's an encouraging sign, particularly for the first half of the open enrollment period,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation healthcare think-tank. By the end of March, “if it's lower than that, I think there would be some cause for concern,” Levitt said. Levitt and colleagues at Kaiser analyzed a scenario that they deemed worst case in which young adults represented 25 percent of enrollees. They found that costs then would be about 2.4 percent higher, but insurers would retain a very slim profit margin. As a result, the Kaiser authors projected the companies would raise premiums by a commensurate amount, but not enough to destabilize the market. Using the same data as Kaiser but different assumptions, Seth Chandler, a law professor at the University of Houston who specializes in insurance, said costs would be 3.5 percent higher, should only 25 percent of enrollees be young adults. “If we see fewer than 30 percent of the enrollees being in that 18-to-34 age bracket, that's a warning sign that there are problems,” Chandler said. “If the demographics come in poorly, insurers are going to lose money.” Chandler is a skeptic of the healthcare law and writes a blog called “ACA Death Spiral.” Such a spiral is thought to occur if insurers facing higher costs raise premiums, so only very sick people buy coverage, leading to even higher premiums with the pattern continuing until the insurance market either disappears or shrinks to the point that it is not sustainable. The penalty for not buying insurance increases significantly by 2016, which should bring in more young and healthy holdouts over time. Target says hackers entered the store's cash register system By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. retail giant Target, whose stores were hit in a cyber attack in December, now says that the malicious software used for the theft of millions of credit card data was copying it from the company's sale registers. Target's chairman and chief executive officer, Gregg Steinhafel, said in a recent interview that officials detected the presence of malicious software on Sunday, Dec. 15, and by six o'clock that evening, the company's system was safe and secure. Before the malware was eliminated, though, between 70 and 110 million cards were compromised. Hackers gained access to the retailer's computer network where they installed software that read the data from customers' credit cards as it was moving through the electronic payment process. The data recorded on a card's magnetic strip is encrypted but, in order to authorize the transaction, the system must decipher it. The hackers' malware intervened in that process and stole the information. Other popular U.S. retailers like Neiman Marcus, Barnes and Noble and Michael's also reported attacks at the point-of-sale terminals. Quake rattles Puerto Rico but no damage reported By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A magnitude-6.5 earthquake off the coast of Puerto Rico has shaken the U.S. territory's northern coast. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit early Monday, 96 kilometers northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, at a depth of 28 kilometers below the seabed. There were no immediate reports of damage. Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of the devastating magnitude-7.0 earthquake in nearby Haiti. That quake killed more than 200,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. Pope tells 19 new cardinals to refrain from celebrating By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Pope Francis has told the 19 men he plans to elevate to the rank of cardinal not to see their appointment as a promotion and not to waste money holding celebratory parties. Francis, who has made humility and frugality the hallmarks of his papacy and has warned against careerism in the Roman Catholic Church, announced Sunday the names of the men, who come from 12 different nations. In a letter to each of them which was released by the Vatican Monday, the Argentinian-born pontiff said they should not let their appointment go to their heads. “Being a cardinal does not mean a promotion or an honor or a decoration, it is simply a service,” he said in the letter. Francis told them they should not react by doing anything that smacks of “high society or hold celebrations that have nothing to do with the gospel spirit of austerity, sobriety and poverty.” In the past, some prelates celebrated their elevation to the rank of cardinal with lavish receptions in their home dioceses or in Rome. Francis is leading by example. The former archbishop of Buenos Aires has renounced the spacious papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace used by his predecessors and lives is a small apartment in a Vatican guest house. He uses the palace only to receive heads of state and to address crowds from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square. Francis has also given up the papal limousine and is driven around Rome in a Ford Focus, sometimes sitting in the front seat next to the driver. The cardinals will be formally elevated to their new posts at a ceremony Feb. 22 known as a consistory. Sixteen of them are under 80 and thus will have the right to vote for Francis' eventual successor. The other three will be made cardinal emeritus, without voting rights, for their service to the church. Afghan girl, 10, declined to be a suicide bomber By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A young Afghan girl detained while allegedly wearing a suicide bomber’s vest said she does not want to return home. She is asking the Afghan government for protection. Police in Helmand province detained 10-year-old Spozhmai last week. She said her brother, a Taliban commander, forced her to attempt a suicide attack on a police checkpoint. Reports from the area indicate that instead of carrying out the mission, she ran home to get the vest off, and then went to the police for protection. The Taliban denied being involved in the plot. Spozhmai said that now she cannot go to school safely in her village. Spozhmai said she is happy she did not carry out the attack. She said the soldiers are protecting her. Spozhmai’s father, Abdul Ghafoor, said he will not be able to protect his daughter if she is sent home. “I am afraid of my own sons. I have three sons. One of them is a Talib, they are all together. I am not afraid for my life. I am afraid that they will hurt the girl. Abdul Ghafoor said he wants the government to help his family move to a safer place. News reports and rights activists say that over the past few years, Afghan police have intercepted scores of children whom insurgents were planning to use as suicide bombers. Some were as young as 6. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa
Rica's sixth news page |
|
||||||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 9 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
||
|
Affirmative
action declined after court bans, study finds By
the American Educational Research Association
news service University of Washington researchers Grant H. Blume and Mark C. Long have produced the first empirical estimates using national-level data to show the extent to which levels of affirmative action in U.S. college admissions decisions changed during the period of 1992 to 2004. The authors find a significant decline nationally in the level of affirmative action used by selective public colleges from 1992 to 2004. This decline is attributable to institutions in the eight states affected by statewide affirmative action bans or Circuit Court rulings during the period. They are Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Washington. While selective public institutions in the eight states, which Blume and Long label post affirmative action states, ceased giving preferences to minority applicants in their admissions decisions, selective public institutions in other states continued to do so. “There’s been a lot of debate about whether or not states are complying with the law,” said Blume. “Our research shows that they are.” Blume and Long define affirmative action as the higher probability of admission for an underrepresented minority black, Hispanic or Native American student compared with a similar non-minority, white or Asian, student at the same institution. They found substantial and significant preference being given to minority students in 1992 at highly selective institutions in all states, but by 2004 there were dramatic declines in preference given to minority students in the eight affected states. Outside of the eight post-affirmative action states, at selective public institutions a minority applicant was 19 percentage points more likely to be admitted than a comparable non-minority applicant in 1992, and this advantage remained at 18 percentage points in 2004. The researchers also found spillover effects for students living in states bordering the eight affected states, particularly in Arizona, Nevada, and Idaho. Because these neighboring states lack highly selective institutions, students who apply to selective institutions in nearby California and Washington were affected by the decline in affirmative action in those two states. “These spillover effects are important to consider, especially in light of the growing number of states that have more recently enacted statewide bans as these bans will likewise have regional implications for college applicants,” said Long. |
| Costa Rican News |
AMCostaRicaArchives.com |
Retire NOW in Costa Rica |
CostaRicaReport.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| From Page 7: U.S. will promote more exports to Latin America By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The United States is promoting exports to the 11 Latin American nations with which Washington has a
The Look South web portal features updated market research and information on commercial opportunities, expanded awareness of trade financing tools, and targeted public and private sector partnerships, the department said. |
