Puerto Rico News Digest for December 9, 2014

STUDENTS INJURED DURING BUS CRASH

A truck crashed into a school bus at 7:25 this morning,
leaving three students gravely injured, as reported by
El Nuevo Dia. The accident occured on the Luis A. Ferré
expressway, going from Santa Isabel to Salinas. The bus
was headed to Saint Patrick School in Guayama. One of
the minors affected was in critical condition, and was
taken to San Lucas Hospital in Guayama, while the other
two injured students were taken by ambulance to Centro
Medico in Rio Piedras. Only one lane of traffic is open
in the area at the moment due to the accident investi-
gation.

MOLINA HEALTHCARE TO RUN PR MEDICAID

From Marketwatch:

Molina Healthcare, Inc. MOH, -0.49% today announced that 

its wholly owned subsidiary, Molina Healthcare of Puerto 

Rico, Inc., has executed a contract with the Puerto Rico 

Health Insurance Administration (ASES by its Spanish 

acronym) to operate the Commonwealth’s Medicaid-funded 

Government Health Plan (GHP) program in the East and 

Southwest regions. Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico’s 

total expected enrollment in the two regions is approxi-

mately 350,000 members.

“As a health care company that has more than 30 years of 

experience serving Medicaid beneficiaries, we are pleased 

to have been selected as a new Medicaid provider in Puerto 

Rico,” said J. Mario Molina, MD, President and CEO of 

Molina Healthcare. “We look forward to working closely 

with ASES, local providers, and community leaders to 

deliver high-quality health care to Puerto Rico’s 

Medicaid participants.”

OIL TAX CONSTITUTIONALITY QUESTIONED 

From The San Juan Daily Star:

The House will again discuss today the bill on the crude oil 

tax hike, as it decides whether to concur with Senate 

amendments to the legislationor send it to a House-Senate 

conference committee to create a single version of the bill.

The bill, which increases the tax on crude oil from $9.25 

to $15.50, was first approved in the House and later by the 

Senate, which approved it with a series of amendments. 

The bill now goes back to the House for approval.

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, José 

Nadal Power, said it will be very difficultto amend the 

measure again because the amendments were approved 

in the Senate caucus. “There were some doubts about the 

constitutionality,” he said.