MEDIA LABELING GETS IT WRONG

posted by Michael Chihak

"Show me your papers."

That's the line that politicians boasted was the underlying theme to SB1070, the phrase a takeoff on the misquoted line from the bandido in Treasure of Sierra Madre -- "We don't need no stinkin' badges."

The media picked up "show me your papers" quickly and ubiquitously, even in the aftermath of Monday's Supreme Court ruling on the issue.

"Individual mandate."

That's the phrase used by both sides in the debate over the Affordable Care Act, with one side saying it is good to make everyone take responsibility for health insurance, the opponents saying such a mandate is a breach of individual freedom.

And again, the media glommed onto it and have driven it into the linguistic ground.

The problem with both phrases -- "show me your papers" and "individual mandate" -- is that they are no longer true based on the Supreme Court rulings of this week.

The court struck down the "show me your papers" part of Arizona's immigration law. Immigrants cannot be compelled to carry proof of legal residency with them, the court said. Thus, if stopped by an Arizona law-enforcement officer suspecting someone is in the country illegally, no "showing of papers" is needed.

Yet the media continued using the phrase in the hours and days after the ruling.

Same with "individual mandate," which the Supreme Court truck down. It goes to the heart of explaining the court's decision. The mandate was claimed under the Constitution's commerce clause, but the court said no. Rather, it ruled, an individual is not "mandated" to carry health insurance; he or she can pay a tax instead.

All in all some rather fine points of word usage. Nevertheless, accuracy must prevail, most especially when our striving to explain ends up oversimplifying to the point of fictionalizing.

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT ON FRIDAY'S PROGRAM

posted by Michael Chihak

By Paul Ingram, Arizona Week Intern

The U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that Congress could require people to buy health insurance, and penalize those who not with a tax, reaffirmed the Affordable care Act in a 5-4 decision announced this morning.

Led by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court supported nearly all the provisions of the 2010 bill, including the expansion of Medicaid funding to states, however it would not allow the federal government to penalize states that did not cooperate.

This decision protects provisions, including the ban on the use of preexisting conditions to refuse care and allowing adult children to remain on their parent’s health insurance until they are age 26.

President Barack Obama praised the decision, stating “Whatever the politics, today’s decision was a victory for people all over this country whose lives are more secure because of this law and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold it.”

After the announcement, the stock market was split on the decision as hospital stocks rose while the market price for insurers tumbled, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Arizona governor Jan Brewer reacted to the court’s decision with a prepared statement, “Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court flies in the face of what most Americans know to be true: ObamaCare is an overreaching and unaffordable assault on states’ rights and individual liberty.”

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared during a press conference that he would “act to repeal Obamacare” on his first day in office. Romney’s campaign reported it raised $375,000 in two hours after the decision was reached, according to Politico.

El Rio Community Health Center, one of the largest healthcare providers in Tucson, applauded the decision.

In a press release, executive director Kathy Bryrne wrote, “This means that in the coming years millions of newly insured people, and communities identified as medical shortage areas, will gain access to doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses and other health care professionals, and the quality cost-effective primary and preventive services health centers provide.”

Recent analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau noted that 83.7 percent of people have some kind of health insurance, however, this has declined from 85 percent in 2007, representing about 900,000 people who have lost their insurance since the economic recession started. The number of people covered by private insurance has been decreasing since 2001, according to the bureau; Medicaid has been making up the gap.

As the Arizona Republic noted, 1.2 million Arizonans (or about 19 percent) are not covered by health insurance. While Arizona was at the center of the legal challenge, the state accepted a federal grant to organize and fund the state’s health insurance exchange, the court’s decision will require the state to continue the program or hand it over to the federal government.

The program includes $16.4 million for software to track the exchange, a $1 million planning grant—used to borrow staffers from other state agencies to develop the exchange—and $29.8 million as an “establishment” grant.

While much of the bill’s provisions have yet to be engaged, some of its provision have already affected Arizona residents.

According to figures from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and reported by the Arizona Republic, the Affordable Care Act allowed nearly 60,000 adult children under 26 to remained insured.

Similarly, in 2011, more than 637,000 received free preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies, as well as annual wellness visits. Finally, nearly 2,000 received healthcare despite preexisting conditions.

Friday at 8:30 p.m., Arizona Week will cover this issue in-depth with analysis by the Goldwater Institute, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a health care economist, the head of Tucson medical Center and a physician who operates a care improvement program under the Affordable Care Act.

2 NATIONS, 2 STATES, 1 ECONOMIC REGION

posted by Michael Chihak

By Paul Ingram Arizona Week Intern

Though they are two separate states divided by an international boundary, Arizona and Sonora can be viewed as a single economic region, according to the Arizona-Mexico Commission which holds its summer meeting in Tucson this week.

The commission is a cross-border, nonprofit developed to promote trade, advocacy and information sharing between the two border states. Created 53 years ago as part of the University of Arizona's Arizona-Sonoran International Conference on Regional Development, the AMC includes 15 binational committees, including economic development, health, education, security, water, and environmental issues.

Both states are linked by economic, social and environmental threads.

Economically, the two states created a combined $258 billion in economic development, according to a 2009 economic report from the Eller Economic and Business Research Center at the University of Arizona.

Border trade one of the primary issues of the committees, which will focus on upgrades to the Nogales and San Luis port of entries, including an expansion of equipment for the US Customs’ expedited traveler cards in southbound lanes, using a $1 million grant from the Arizona and U.S. federal transportation agencies.

Environmental protection of watersheds and species along the border is also covered.

During the meeting, the environmental committee will discuss new plans to protect the Las Ciénegas National Conservation Area, 45 miles southwest of Tucson, as well as protection for wild doves and turkeys, as well as black-tailed prairie dogs, and javelina. The committees will also focus on water issues, starting with flooding between Douglas and Agua Prieta, as well as a plan to evaluate the decline and overuse of the Santa Cruz aquifer.

Similarly, the exchange of air water data between the Sonoran Ecology and Sustainable Development Commission (CEDES) and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to exchange particulate data from air quality reports for the cities of Nogales, Sonora, Hermosillo, Obregon and Agua Prieta.

Committees will also meet to discuss a “International Border Games” project that will create an exchange of athletes from professional and semi-professional teams between Arizona and Sonora, as well as deal discuss new training and equipment donations for first responders in Sonora and the Tohono O’odham reservation.

AZ-MEX COMMISSION COMES TO TUCSON

posted by Michael Chihak

The Arizona-Mexico Commission's summer meetings will be in Tucson Wednesday through Friday.

The commission, which works on issues of competitiveness, sustainability, security and quality of life for the states of Arizona and Sonora, will focus on cross-border real estate issues, environment, economic development and other issues.

Arizona Week's Friday broadcast will focus on the key issues, especially economic issues, including ties to border logistics, trade and transportation.

We plan to speak with commission Executive Director Margie Emmermann, at least one official from the state of Sonora, an economist who is an expert on border trade and business issues and someone doing business across the border.