Question: Q:
Pennsylvania Wants to Use Federal Funds to Cover Poor
WASHINGTON â The governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, released details on Friday of his proposal to use federal Medicaid funds to buy private health insurance for low-income people â a plan similar to one being carried out by Arkansas and considered by other Republican governors who oppose expanding Medicaid under President Obamaâs health care law.

Like the Arkansas plan, which the Obama administration formally approved in September, Mr. Corbettâs proposal would use federal funds available for expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act to instead buy private coverage for an expanded Medicaid population, using the new online insurance marketplace.

But Mr. Corbettâs proposal veers more sharply from traditional Medicaid and thus may have a harder time winning federal approval than the Arkansas plan. Under his plan, people whose incomes are greater than 50 percent of the federal poverty level â currently $15,415 for a household of one â would have to pay a ânominalâ monthly premium, according to a draft of Mr. Corbettâs application for a federal waiver.

The premium requirement would encourage beneficiaries âto make healthier choices, both in their daily lives and when making decisions about their health care,â according to the draft application. People could see their premiums reduced if they paid their premiums on time and got an annual physical exam.

âThe idea here is to encourage people to seek preventive care and develop a relationship with a primary care provider,â said Christine Cronkright, a spokeswoman for Mr. Corbett, adding that those who worked at least 20 hours a week on average would qualify for additional reductions.

In addition, most adults ages 21 to 64 who are unemployed or work fewer than 20 hours a week would also have to search for jobs as a condition of eligibility for the insurance program.

Mr. Corbett also wants to restructure Medicaid for current beneficiaries, who, under his plan, would stay in the traditional program instead of getting private coverage through the exchange. Under his plan, most working-age adults in the traditional program would be enrolled in a âlow-riskâ health plan with basic benefits, but people with complex health problems would qualify for a âhigh-riskâ plan with more benefits.

Mr. Corbett announced the broad outlines of his plan in September but provided more details on Friday. In a news release, he said the plan would cover more than 500,000 uninsured residents âin a fiscally sustainable manner.â Ms. Cronkright said the state would formally submit its application early next year after holding public hearings on the proposal around the state.

The presidentâs health care law allows states to expand Medicaid to include people who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. About half the states have decided to do so, with the federal government paying the entire cost through 2016 and no less than 90 percentÂ in later years. Many states with Republican governors or Republican-dominated legislatures have flatly rejected the expansion funds. Arizona, Michigan and Ohio are among the handful of states with Republican governors who are expanding the program, often despite stiff resistance from Republican legislators.

Antoinette Kraus, director of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, an advocacy group, said she was pleased that Mr. Corbett was moving to expand Medicaid but worried that his proposal would face lengthy vetting by the federal government.

âWeâre looking at a process of probably about a year,â she said, âwhen we could have just done what our neighbors in other states have done and expanded our traditional Medicaid program.â

As for the additional requirements that Mr. Corbett is seeking, Ms. Kraus said, âitâs kind of an administrative nightmare and added expense to require work searches and premiums for folks that really just need to be able to access health care.â
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A:
The proposal would use federal funds available for expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act to instead buy private coverage for an expanded Medicaid population.

A high-minded plan for a new gallery has become Hasting's latest victim
Ah, Bonfire Night! Rosy-cheeked children warming mittened hands by the fire. Wispy-haired grandfathers munching on toffee apples with their dentures. The toasty smell of burning tinder. The oohs and aaahs as fireworks splutter brightly into the sky. It's all so jolly and adorably English.

Except in Hastings. Here Bonfire Night is a battleground, a chance to vent spleen and bubble over with public indignation. Most people are content to burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, but not the Hastings Borough Bonfire Society. Last year a symbolic wheelie bin was burned in opposition to a new council waste management system. At the height of foot and mouth, the Hastings bonfire was stoked up with a papier-maché beefburger. This year it became the focal point for a bitter row over plans by the Jerwood Foundation to build an art gallery over the coach station. The Bonfire Society enterprisingly constructed a model of the proposed gallery and then set it alight. 'This is just another in a string of things that people are trying to foist on us,' explained Keith Leech, the society's honorary president.

The gallery is the latest in a series of attempts to reinvigorate seaside towns though art. In Eastbourne a new home for the Towner Gallery will shortly open over a disused car park. In Margate, the Turner Contemporary arts organisation is building a permanent base. St Ives has the Tate. And Folkestone hosted a triennial this summer, showing the work of 22 artists including Tracey Emin.

The £4m Hastings scheme would, say its supporters, regenerate the area, attract visitors and make important works of modern British art accessible to the public. Alan Grieve, chairman of the Jerwood Foundation, has insisted that 'the gallery, if realised, would become a valued resource for the local community and contribute strongly to the regeneration of Hastings'. The leader of the Borough Council calls it 'a very exciting prospect for the town'.

But some locals are unconvinced. They say the gallery will be built in the heart of the Old Town, directly on top of a busy coach park, and may endanger the future of fishermen who own the land, called the Stade - a word that dates back to 1066 and means 'landing place'. 'Traders in the Old Town are largely against this scheme because they cannot see any benefit in it for them,' protester Ion Castro told the Hastings Observer last week. 'There is also concern among host families of foreign students [who are dropped off by coach to stay in the town], and an underlying feeling that the council is trying to force fishermen off the Stade.'

Sid Beynon of the Hastings Arts Forum said he supported the idea of a Jerwood gallery, 'but they could be a bit more malleable in their demands. The site is a bit awkward, although as an artist myself I recognise the importance of the Jerwood coming to town.'

Beynon was unperturbed by the effigy-burning. 'They've burnt the Pope in the past, and Gaddafi. I think it was an expression of genuine concern and upset.'

In Todds Gallery on the High Street they were taking a more positive approach. According to one member of staff, the effigy was, in its own way, quite artistic. 'You can choose to be horrified by it or you can see it as quite a careful creative response.'

If only they hadn't burned it, the effigy could have been touted as a post-modern work of insightful brilliance. Perhaps the Jerwood Foundation would have added it to its collection.
Please write a summary below.

Answer: This year's victim of Hastings was a high-minded plan for a new gallery