Nebraska
Extreme heat continues to strike Southwest US and even Nebraska needs a cold drink
Parts of California and Arizona were under extreme heat warnings again Saturday while sweltering summerlike weather even stretched as far north as Nebraska just a day into spring.
Temperatures at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 C) were forecast in the Southwest, closing a remarkable week of record-breaking heat. Experts say April, May and June are likely to be hotter than normal almost everywhere in the U.S.
Win Marsh said the heat was a reason to return home early to Utah after she and her husband, Stephen, hiked 170 miles (273 kilometers) over two weeks in Arizona, starting at the Mexico border. Their goal was to complete more than 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) on the Arizona Trail.
“We know our limits,” Marsh, 63, said Saturday. “We can’t hike when our bodies can’t cool down. There’s no shade out there, and water sources are drying up. … We promised our kids we wouldn’t do sketchy stuff. We’re not out there for a search-and-rescue event.”
The National Weather Service predicted 100 degrees (37.7 C) in Tucson, Arizona. The Yuma Desert, a desert community in southwestern Arizona, was headed toward 105 degrees (40.5 C), a day after reaching 112 (43.3 C) — a record for the highest March temperature in the United States.
Two places in Southern California also hit that temperature Friday. Experts say triple-digit days typically arrive by May, not March.
In the Midwest, temperatures exceeding 90 (32.2 C) were predicted across Nebraska, followed by a big drop to the 50s and 60s Sunday. A red flag warning was posted, which means a higher risk for wildfires. Parts of Texas were also at 90 or higher Saturday.
“This heat is likely to break many long-standing records from over a century ago across the area,” the National Weather Service in Omaha, Nebraska, said.
All evacuation orders were lifted in areas affected by Nebraska’s Cottonwood and Morrill fires, which have burned more than 1,200 square miles (3,118 square kilometers) for days but are largely contained, the state Emergency Management Agency said. The areas are dominated by range and grassland.
March’s heat would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, according to a report Friday by World Weather Attribution, an international group of scientists who study the causes of extreme weather events.
Nebraska
Nebraska DHHS reviewing federal rule on Medicaid work requirements, declines call to ‘press pause’
LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) -Nebraska became the first state to implement new federally mandated work requirements for Medicaid recipients in May, and the federal government this week released a first look at what all states would need to follow by Jan. 1.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its interim final rule on the work requirements Monday for public review. Local nonprofit Nebraska Appleseed blasted the proposal as more onerous than Nebraska’s requirements, implemented eight months early, and which the advocacy organization argues could lead to more hurdles down the line.
Broadly, the federal requirements mandate that certain adults receiving Medicaid who are between the ages of 19 and 64 will need to work, volunteer or attend school for at least 80 hours per month, earn at least $580 a month or qualify for an exemption.
Among those who are exempt are people who are pregnant, have a disability, are a parent or caretaker of a young child, or veterans with a total disability rating.
Collin Spilinek, a spokesperson for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, said the agency is reviewing the new guidance “to determine what changes, if any, will be necessary to make.”
The state agency has said roughly 25,000 of the 72,000 adult Nebraskans enrolled through Medicaid expansion will eventually be subject to the updated work requirements to keep or get Medicaid coverage at their renewal period.
The federal proposal includes a new hurdle on top of Nebraska’s requirements, Appleseed argues, that “directly targets” people with disabilities, mental conditions or medical needs, such as cancer or HIV, by requiring Medicaid recipients who have serious medical needs or disabilities to “prove” a condition makes them unable to work to qualify for an exemption.
“This federal rule adds major and punitive new restrictions that will directly hurt Nebraskans, especially those with serious medical needs and disabilities,” said Sarah Maresh, Appleseed’s health care access program director, in a statement.
Maresh said Nebraskans were already “confused, scared and at risk of unnecessarily and inappropriately losing” health care because Gov. Jim Pillen decided to act early.
Collin Spilinek, a spokesperson for Nebraska’s DHHS, said the agency has been able to “successfully manage” the new workload of implementing the requirements with “no issues.”
“Staff members have the foundational expertise to absorb the new requirements without expanding headcount and have received targeted training specific to the work requirements, including new policy content, system workflows and verification standards,” Spilinek said this week.
Maresh and Appleseed urged DHHS to “press pause” and join the rest of the nation in implementing requirements by January 2027. Spilinek said there are “no plans” to do so.
“People’s lives are on the line,” Maresh said.
In April, days before Nebraska moved ahead with the work requirements, Drew Gonshorowski, director of the state’s Division of Medicaid and Long-Term Care, told KETV the changes are meant to promote workforce and curb Medicaid misuse.
“Our commitment here is to ensure that our members receive coverage long term,” Gonshorowsk told KETV at the time. “And we will work with our providers to ensure sustainability of our systems.”
Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com.
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