The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 106, No. 52 - December 28, 2017 Inside This Issue Best of the Best..................2 Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................14 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Entertainment......................6 Legals..................................13 Obituaries.............................2 Pets......................................16 Real Estate.....................7-11 Sports.............................. 5,12 Weekend Forecast El Segundo Police Secret Santas Hand Out Good Kind of Tickets Several local residents breathed sighs of relief when pulled over by El Segundo Police Officers during the holiday season. Instead of receiving a nasty citation, the lucky recipients came away with movie tickets, cash or gift cards courtesy of the El Segundo Police Department’s annual Secret Santa program, subsidized by anonymous donors. In this photo, “Sgt. St. Nick” waits at El Segundo Beach. Photo Provided by ESPD. The Year in Review: El Segundo Looks Ahead as It Turns 100 By Brian Simon Unless you lived under that proverbial rock, you knew that the City of El Segundo turned 100 in 2017. The year-long Centennial Ambulance Services Get Through Loophole in New Health Care Law By Rob McCarthy A loophole in a consumer protection law aimed at ending surprise medical bills is allowing ambulance companies to bill Medicare recipients thousands of dollars for their services. The new law that took effect in July ended the practice of surprise medical bills for out-of-network fees as long as a patient used a doctor, clinic or lab in their insurance network. However, people covered through Medicare, Medi- Cal or a self-insured health plan were excluded from the health care protection in Assembly Bill 72. Only people with private insurance are shielded from the practice known as balance billing. A doctor or provider typically will send a bill first to an insurer, which pays a flat rate for the service. The doctor, lab or clinic can seek the balance of the charge directly from the patient. Ambulance companies are included, too. The Kaiser Family Foundation recently looked into the continued balance billing practice of ambulance companies and says it’s not illegal. Unless an ambulance service belongs to a network, it can set its own rates. “Most complaints reviewed by Kaiser Health News did not appear to involve fraudulent charges. Instead, patients got caught in a system in which ambulance services can legally charge thousands of celebration kicked off with the Birthday Bash at Library Park on January 17, followed soon after by the Centennial Ball at the Automobile Driving Museum on January 21. Other notable events included the 100th Anniversary Concert at the El Segundo High School Performing Arts Center (March 25), Centennial Carnival at Chevron Park (August 27), and Fireworks Spectacular at El Segundo High (October 7—along with a concert across the street prior). The year wrapped up with the Magic on Main Street Centennial Tree Lighting at Library Park on December 2 and Holiday Parade December 10. Meanwhile in the midst of all the festivities and historical remembrances, the City looked squarely to the future with much change on the horizon moving into its next century. The recent run of budget surpluses continued in 2017 and the El Segundo City Council earmarked a chunk of those monies towards much-needed capital projects. But future forecasts were much less rosy, as Finance Director Joseph Lillio estimated annual deficits exceeding $5 million by 2022/23. The biggest culprit: escalating pension costs, which the Council sought to tackle by establishing a pension subcommittee to come up with solutions. Among the early steps were sending an advance payment to CalPERS to shave interest accrued, setting up a trust to prefund pension liability, and refinancing unfunded liability to reduce the amortization periods and thus save more interest payments over the long haul. In its last meeting of the year, the Council voted to place a “preemptive” three-quarters of a percent sales tax increase on the April ballot—that will only be implemented should Los Angeles County later pass its own increase. This way, the additional revenues ($9 million annually) would go to the City instead of the County and help address future budget deficits. While no one on the Council wished to increase local taxes, they agreed to proceed with the measure under the concept that if residents eventually have to pay the extra amount regardless (feeling the County will likely pass an increase sooner than later), See Year in Review, page 12 See Health Care Law, page 3 Friday Sunny 70˚/52˚ Saturday Sunny 66˚/53˚ Sunday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 64˚/52˚
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