Steve Stivers RSS Articles

Columbus tot touts children’s hospitals to Congress

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:00:00 GMT

By Jessica Wehrman
The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday
June 19, 2013 6:18 AM

WASHINGTON — Two-year-old Patrick Bibbee of Columbus doesn’t say much, but he delivered a powerful message yesterday to members of Ohio’s congressional delegation: Children’s hospitals deserve support.

Patrick, high-spirited and full of energy, spent the first six months of his life at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. His mother, Amanda, and father, Shannon, roamed Capitol Hill yesterday with representatives of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, pushing Patrick in a stroller. Their message was simple: Thank you for supporting children’s hospitals. Please continue to do so.

Nationwide, said Mrs. Bibbee, 30, “did everything they could” for her son. “And look at him now."

The trip to Capitol Hill is an annual one for Nationwide Children’s Hospital representatives. They have asked for support for graduate medical education and children’s research. This time, however, they decided to let Patrick tell the story.

He and his twin, Paige, were born prematurely — at 23 weeks gestation. Paige struggled from the start, developing necrotizing enterocolitis, a condition where parts of the bowel begin to die. Patrick also had it, but not as severely.

Doctors could not save Paige. Patrick, meanwhile, endured nine surgeries, including on his bowels, eye and heart. While his mother stayed at the hospital around-the-clock, his father, an Army reservist based in Whitehall, was deployed to Iraq.

Mr. Bibbee, 36, said he had the option of not being deployed after his children were born so early. But he opted to do so, he said, because it meant his family was covered by TRICARE, the military health insurance. Private insurance would charge copays and other fees. His deployment also meant a raise in pay — one that allowed his wife to quit her job and devote her time to Patrick’s care.

Part of the reason he came to Washington, he said, was to emphasize the important role that military health insurance played in Patrick’s recovery. He estimated it paid for about $2 million of care.

He also expressed gratitude for a bill, introduced by Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, that further improved TRICARE’s coverage of military children. That bill was included in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act and became law last year.

Patrick, meanwhile, charmed Rep. Joyce Beatty, toddling over to hand her a baseball card with his picture on the front. Then he clapped his hands in glee.

“This is a miracle,” said Beatty, D-Jefferson Township. “And we want more of these miracles."

jwehrman@dispatch.com

JOINT RELEASE: Bipartisan Majority in House Requests Delay of Flawed Medical Equipment Procurement Program

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Stivers Press Office: 202-225-2015

Thompson Press Office: 202-225-5121

Braley Press Office: 202-225-2911

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Glenn `GT’ Thompson (R-PA) and Bruce Braley (D-IA), joined by fellow Members of Congress and healthcare advocates, today held a press conference calling upon the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to delay Round 2 of the controversial Competitive Bidding Program for Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Medical Supplies (DMEPOS). Members and attendees highlighted the significance of a letter signed by a bipartisan majority of 227 members in the U.S. House of Representatives sent on June 12, 2013 to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, which outlines critical flaws in the program and requests delaying further implementation through the remainder of 2013.

U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA): “We have been joined by a bipartisan majority of the House, 227 members in total, 82 Democrats and 145 Republicans, requesting that Administrator Tavenner use her authority to delay further implementation of the program and take a hard look at many of the discrepancies that have been brought to our attention. We are concerned that mishandling of the bidding process, as outlined in the letter, will impact Medicare’s ability to serve its beneficiaries and the taxpayers. We urge the Administrator to do the right thing and delay the program through the end of 2013 in order to allow for adequate investigation and correction of the significant problems that we have identified.”

U.S. Representative Bruce Braley (D-IA): “When the government picks winners in a flawed bidding system for the medical equipment business, seniors on Medicare and the small businesses that serve them lose. A government-imposed monopoly in medical equipment will put countless small businesses that provide medical supplies out of business, kill jobs in local communities, and reduce choices for Medicare beneficiaries. The free market should be allowed to work within Medicare, and a bipartisan group of representatives comprising a majority of the U.S. House agree.”

U.S. Representative Steve Stivers (R-OH): “The current process for DMEPOS Competitive Bidding is broken, which is why I hope Ms. Tavenner will delay it and let the Congress work its will to fix it. We need to protect seniors from unlicensed or non-registered companies providing products and services that mean the difference between life or death for those seniors who depend on them.”

U.S. Representative Tom Price, M.D. (R-GA): “The fundamental failings of the current DMEPOS competitive bidding program is a threat to patients, families, physicians, and providers. If allowed to continue, it will do real harm to folks all across the country who rely on medical equipment for their health and wellbeing. In order to ensure Medicare is successfully serving its beneficiaries, we ought to delay implementation of the current bidding program as requested by a bipartisan majority in Congress and then move to real reform of the program to make it truly market-based.”

U.S. Representative Chris Collins (R-NY): "I am proud to be part of the bipartisan effort in Congress to call on CMS Administrator Tavenner to delay implementation of round 2 of the Durable Medical Equipment Competitive Bidding program. CMS has clearly designed a flawed process. While trying to cut costs, the federal government has created an unsustainable system that will negatively affect seniors, people with disabilities, and small medical device companies.”

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FRIDAY: Representative Steve Stivers

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 04:00:00 GMT

STEVE STIVERS (Kellie Hanna) US Representative Steve Stivers came into the studio and talked to Pete Scalia about what is going on in Washington DC right now.

Two very hot topics are the IRS Scandal and the conflict in Syria.

The IRS scandal is continuing and Steve Stivers said "we need to get the facts and let those facts drive where we go."

The head of the IRS was at the White House 157 times, more than any other head of the IRS.

The other hot topic is Syria. Representative Stivers says it is dangerous that Syria is obtaining all of these weapons. He said Syria needs to know that any attacks against Israel would be taken seriously.

Stivers also mentioned his job fair which is taking place Friday June 7th from 10 am to 4 pm at Pickerington North HS on Hill Rd. There will be over 60 companies represented.

Stivers asked about veterans' issues

Fri, 31 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

There were questions about alleged IRS targeting of Tea Party groups, delays in processing veterans claims and the numbers of people receiving Social Security disability dollars at Thursday's town hall in Wilmington with U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers (R-15th district).

About 50 people attended the event at Kelly Center on the Wilmington College campus, described as a listening session or town hall by Stivers who became Clinton County's representative in the U.S. House in January following redistricting.

Several questions pertained to recent allegations the Internal Revenue Service applied added scrutiny to applications for tax-exempt status of conservative groups. Stivers said the story is still in the fact-gathering stage and the American public doesn't yet know what occurred.

The congressman said he favors a special prosecutor being named "to get to the bottom" of the IRS' alleged actions.

Asked about lengthy delays in the Veterans Administration processing military veterans' benefit claims, Stivers said spending money to address the delays is an untypical example of an area for which he's willing to increase federal spending because the nation owes that to its veterans.

In response to a question concerning an increase in people who get Social Security disability compensation, Stivers said the current number is a record. He added that being disabled from doing one type of work does not mean that person is necessarily disabled from every job.

Stivers indicated he supports helping those people get trained to get a job they can do.

Prior to the question-and-answer portion of the event, Stivers spoke about having voted for a bill that will reform workforce development programs. The legislation aims to get training dollars to people who need it such as those who are unemployed and need skills to go back to work, he said. The legislation also tries to enable companies that have jobs available to get access to training programs, he said.

Addressing an audience of Clinton Countians whose home county has ranked among the Ohio counties with the worst unemployment rate since 2008, Stivers said there's a need to fix the unemployment system so that it "creates an off-ramp to a job and that means tying workforce development into it."

He added, "But I think after a while unemployed people should be required to, for example, get the workforce development training that they need to have the skills so that they can get jobs."

Stivers continued, "After let's say three or four months of unemployment, it's probably fair to say that they don't have the skills for the jobs that are in that marketplace. So we need to tie some responsibilities to that unemployment after a while, [and] make sure that it does help people get back to work."

Officials gather in Lancaster to discuss issues/concerns with opiates

Wed, 29 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

By DEBRA TOBIN For the Perry County Tribune dtobin@logandaily.com

LANCASTER — While it’s apparent there’s a drug addiction and drug abuse problem in Southeastern Ohio, U.S. Congressman Steve Stivers (R-15th District) is trying to help remedy the problem and held an Opiate Roundtable meeting this past Tuesday morning in Lancaster.

Public officials, law enforcement, and other state, county and city officials from throughout Southeastern Ohio gathered to discuss the issues and concerns of the rampant epidemic plaguing communities on a day-to-day basis.

“This is an epidemic that’s not going away and we realize there is a need to combat the problems before they get worse,” Stivers said. “I’m hoping through the roundtable sessions we can come to some sort of understanding of the problems and decide on the best method of deterring it before it gets worse.”

“We are losing a generation,” stated Hocking County Sheriff Chief Deputy Dave Valkinburg. “We are losing the next generation of taxpayers, employees and productive citizens — all due to drug addiction.”

While everyone agreed with Valkinburg, Fairfield County Prosecutor Gregg Marx stated that one of the issues is severe under funding of law enforcement throughout the state.

“There’s not enough law enforcement officers to enforce the laws,” Marx said. “We also need stronger sentencing for convicted drug addicts.”

Throughout the two-hour session, Stivers interacted with those in attendance in hopes of gaining more knowledge about how to combat the ever-growing problems faced daily by law enforcement, prosecutors and judges.

“Out of the people I see in my court every day, there are at least 80 percent who have opiates in their system,” stated Hocking County Municipal Court Judge Fred Moses.

“We are in desperate need of a jail, but need funding in order to build it,” he continued. “We don’t have but five bed spaces for women in our jail in Nelsonville, so I have to turn people back out onto the streets. This is something I live with every day.”

Moses told the panel of 30 attendees, “There’s not a public restroom in Hocking County that someone hasn’t died of an overdose in or shot up in. We don’t have the funding we need to support the programs to help these people or available space to send them to jail.”

“Just last week a young lady that I was going to put on the Vivitrol program shot up in a bathroom on Georgesville Road and died,” Moses continued. “We just received a grant from the 317 Board that will be used for the Vivitrol program and she was the next one we were going to put in the program.”

“This is stuff I live with daily,” he said. “It’s sad.”

Deputy director of the Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, John Postewaite, concurred that there is a dire need for more funding to be funneled throughout Southeastern Ohio.

“Drugs are coming down either 23 or 33 into our communities,” Postewaite noted. “Addicts can now buy heroin for $7 a balloon because it’s being brought into our communities in vast amounts, making it an easy market.”

Fairfield County Sheriff Dave Phalen spoke to the panel regarding how most crimes of theft are drug-related. “Most addicts steal to support their drug-addiction habits,” he said.

“And locking up everybody doesn’t work, it only adds to the issue,” Moses said.

“You can’t tell a county with no money and no jail, ‘Here they are they’re yours, deal with them,’” Phalen noted.

One member of the panel suggested cutting off the demand and supply and finding a treatment program for those who have addiction problems. However, without funding and the means of hiring more law enforcement officers, this is not possible.

Postewaite also questioned the legality of medical marijuana, “What is medical marijuana? It’s just marijuana. There’s nothing medical about it.”

After bouncing ideas back and forth, Stivers determined there are several areas of concern that need to be addressed, including:

• Internet cooperation with Canada and Mexico, as this is a major source of the drug supply coming into Ohio.

• Internet pharmacy suppliers — it was determined a lot of addicts purchase illegal drugs online.

• Advertising pharmaceuticals on television, radio, Internet, and other media outlets — advertising of these products could lead to addiction.

• Treatment programs — there is a dire need for funding for more treatment programs in the state.

• Funding for special unit law enforcement agencies.

• Integrating information into electronic medical records for easier access to medical professionals, law enforcement, etc.

• Underfunding of law enforcement and mental health issues.

• Dealing with funding for treatment in rural communities.

• Laws and rules on dosage issues.

While the issues and concerns of drug addiction appear to be limitless, Stivers wants to dig deeper into the problems plaguing Southeastern Ohio, and will be offering other roundtable sessions in the near future.

“I believe it’s urgent we keep on top of the drug-addiction problems in the area and do what we can to stop this growing epidemic,” Stivers said.

Drug addiction is not uncommon to Southeastern Ohio. Actually, it has become such a problem that law enforcement and court systems have been overwhelmed with drug-related cases on a daily basis.

“Legislation did kill the pill mills,” said Moses. “But now we have been treating addicts with Suboxone and it’s become addictive.”

Suboxone has become a new drug of choice and it’s one of the major drugs sold by pharmaceuticals to treat opiate addiction, he noted. Moses feels the best treatment program offered is Vivitrol, which is an opioid receptor antagonist used in the treatment of alcoholism and opioid addiction.

While nothing was resolved and there are no concrete answers to help deter drug-addiction throughout Southeastern Ohio, the panel walked away with more knowledge of the outlying problems of not only Hocking, but also Perry, Fairfield and Ross counties.

Stivers goal is to bring all agencies together to work on a mass plan to combat the everlasting opiate epidemic in Southeast Ohio.

Representatives from Stivers office, as well as Sen. Troy Balderson’s office, Adena Hospital in Chillicothe, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, state representatives and the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy also attended the meeting, in addition to representatives of Hocking, Perry, Fairfield and Ross counties.

Local officials, congressman discuss district's opiate issues

Wed, 29 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

By Francesca Sacco fsacco@lancastereaglegazette.com

LANCASTER — State and local law enforcement, health and court officials had the opportunity Tuesday to vent their frustrations and concerns about the growing opiate problem at a round table discussion hosted by U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers.

Stivers, R-Ohio, said the opiate problem is greatly affecting communities.

“It’s a problem everywhere,” Stivers said. “As (Chillicothe Mayor) Jack Everson and (Fairfield County Sheriff) Dave Phalen said, crime in the communities is being driven by addiction.”

In addition to discussing the effects on their local communities, officials also called for more funding, additional jail space and stronger consequences to help in fight the opiate problem.

Hocking County Opiate Court Judge Fred Moses said the situation has become “desperate.”

“Counties don’t have the funding to deal with addicts,” Moses said. “... Most of the time, addicts are not necessarily criminals. They have underlying mental health issues that cause them to turn to drugs.”

Many officials posed questions to their fellow peers, asking them whether they felt the proper actions are being taken to combat the problem.

“Do we cut off the supply or the demand?” asked Everson.

While he wasn’t expecting to solve the problem in one day, Stivers said he felt the discussion was a success.

“We aren’t going to solve the crisis in a two-hour meeting,” he said. “But we came away with action steps.”

Many officials were glad Stivers was willing to meet with them to discuss the topic.

Pickaway County Sheriff Robert Radcliff said the battle against opiates seems never-ending.

“You close down a drug house or make a large bust and it seems like ones pop up to replace it,” Radcliff said. “I’m glad the congressman put this meeting together. Everyone has problems with this.”

Fairfield County Prosecutor Gregg Marx said he was pleased to find Stivers so interested in the topic, and agreed that the meeting was a success.

“I was aware that other counties were facing the similar problems, but it was interesting to hear their approaches,” Marx said. “It’s always good when elected officials come together to discuss these things.”

Stivers: Drug abuse leads to more crime

Wed, 29 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Written by Francesca Sacco

LANCASTER — State and local law enforcement, health and court officials had the opportunity Tuesday to vent their frustrations and concerns about the growing opiate problem at a roundtable discussion hosted by U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers.

Stivers, R-Ohio, said the opiate problem is greatly affecting communities.

“It’s a problem everywhere,” Stivers said. “As (Chillicothe Mayor) Jack Everson and (Fairfield County Sheriff) Dave Phalen said, crime in the communities is being driven by addiction.”

In addition to discussing the effects of addiction on their local communities, officials also called for more funding, additional jail space and stronger consequences to help in fight the opiate problem.

Hocking County Opiate Court Judge Fred Moses said the situation has become desperate.

“Counties don’t have the funding to deal with addicts,” Moses said. “Most of the time, addicts are not necessarily criminals. They have underlying mental health issues that cause them to turn to drugs.”

Many officials posed questions to their peers, asking them whether they thought the proper actions are being taken to combat the problem.

“Do we cut off the supply or the demand?” Everson asked.

While he wasn’t expecting to solve the problem in one day, Stivers said he thought the discussion was a success.

“We aren’t going to solve the crisis in a two-hour meeting,” he said. “But we came away with action steps.”

Many officials were glad Stivers was willing to meet with them to discuss the topic.

Pickaway County Sheriff Robert Radcliff said the battle against opiates seems never-ending.

“You close down a drug house or make a large bust, and it seems like ones pop up to replace it,” Radcliff said. “I’m glad the congressman put this meeting together. Everyone has problems with this.”

Fairfield County Prosecutor Gregg Marx said he was pleased to find Stivers so interested in the topic and agreed the meeting was a success.

fsacco@lancastereagle

Stivers holds opiate roundtable in Lancaster

Tue, 28 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

By DEBRA TOBIN Logan Daily News Reporter dtobin@logandaily.com