Festival, car show planned Saturday at Piper

The Piper Community Festival and car show will take place Saturday, Sept. 29, at Piper High School, 4400 N. 107th St., Kansas City, Kansas.

The Piper Community Festival will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the car show open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

All of the funds raised will go to the Piper Educational Foundation.

The event begins with a Boy Scouts pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the high school, said Sean Ziolo, who is volunteering with the car show portion of the festival.

At 8 a.m. there will be a 5K run-walk sponsored by Anytime Fitness, with registration accepted by 7:30 a.m.

The festival also includes an auction with online bidding, with items donated by businesses. Baskets were made for the auction by different classes. The silent auction will be in the Piper commons between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

A carnival is planned on the grounds from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Vendors will have food trucks during the festival. Entertainment will include the School of Rock performing from noon to 4 p.m.

An alumni softball game is also planned from 10 a.m. to noon at the Piper High School baseball field. There will be soccer and track skills stations at the stadium.

The Piper robotics team craft show will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Piper Middle School.

Bingo is planned from 6 to 9 p.m., and there also will be food available, concession-style, he said.

Those entering a car or vehicle in the car show will pay a $10 fee. Last year there were 162 entries and this year, about 250 are anticipated, Ziolo said. Many different types and years of cars will be in the show, which will be in the south high school parking lot.

“I think we’re going to draw more people in our third year,” Ziolo said.

Last year’s car show winner, a truck, is pictured on this year’s car show T-shirt, he said.

Ziolo said there are cash awards for the winners of the car show. Best of show will receive $200, second prize is $100 and third is $50, he said.

The festival and show will be held rain or shine.

For more information, visit www.piperfest.com, www.facebook.com/PiperCommunityFestival/ and www.facebook.com/pipercarshow/.

Groundbreaking set Friday for Juvenile Justice Center

A groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 28, for the Wyandotte County Juvenile Justice Center in downtown Kansas City, Kansas.

The new building is directly west of the Court Service Building, 812 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kansas. The groundbreaking is open to the public.

The entrances to the groundbreaking will be from 8th and Armstrong, and from 8th and Ann.

Same insurers offering plans in Kansas through Affordable Care Act Exchange

by Dan Margolies, Kansas News Service

Kansans seeking health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s federally run exchange will have the choice of three insurers in 2019. Wyandotte and Johnson counties will have two insurers.

Kansas Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer said in a statement that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, Medica Insurance Co. and Ambetter from Sunflower Health Plan will offer 23 separate plans for individuals through HealthCare.gov, the federal government exchange, to Kansans.

Medica’s plans will be available in every county. Blue Cross’ plans will be available in every county except Johnson and Wyandotte. Ambetter’s plans will be available in Johnson, Wyandotte, Miami and Leavenworth counties.

Open enrollment for 2019 begins Nov. 1 and ends Dec. 15.

“During open enrollment, Kansans need to evaluate whether to enroll in coverage, stay on their current policies, if available, or enroll in different policies,” Selzer said in a statement.

The same three insurers offered plans in Kansas last year.

About 3 percent of Kansans purchase individual plans through healthcare.gov. Just over 98,000 Kansans got coverage in 2018 through the exchange, about the same number as in 2017.

The insurance department previously announced that the proposed average rate increase for individual and small group coverage for 2019 was less than 6 percent.

In Missouri, four insurers are offering plans on the federally run exchange: Anthem’s Healthy Alliance Life; Cigna; Ambetter; and Medica.

Average proposed rates in Missouri also are up modestly over 2018. Healthy Alliance Life has proposed a 3.67 percent increase; Cigna a 7.3 percent hike; and Ambetter, an 8.6 percent decrease. Medica is new to the state.

More than 243, 000 Missourians obtained health insurance in 2018 through HealthCare.gov.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City exited Wyandotte and Johnson counties’ ACA market about a year ago.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.

See more at http://www.kcur.org/post/three-insurers-offering-plans-kansas-through-affordable-care-act-exchange.