In the first segment:
Last year for the first time the federal government released a huge database showing something staggering: A procedure that could cost $100,000 at one hospital cost under $10,000 at another down the road.
The cost of health care has slowed during the recession and medical costs fell for the first time in 40 years in 2013, but what is behind the soaring cost of a hospital visit?
Elisabeth Rosenthal, writer for the New York Times, has detailed the stitch that cost $500 and others in her series: Paying Till It Hurts.
In the series she details how the lack of regulation over the costs leads to these disparate price points and how policy changes can and will affect us.
Her lecture, “Medical Prices in the U.S.: A Problem We Can’t Ignore,” is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the UT Health Science Center’s Holly Auditorium at 7703 Floyd Curl Drive in San Antonio. The event is free and open to the public. You can watch live at NowcastSA.com
In the second segment:
The San Antonio Water System has a plan to keep San Antonio in water for the next generation -- a few of them actually.
After studying the issue, the system is coming out in favor of expanding a proposed desalinization plant to accommodate the city’s future needs. This is instead of several plans that would have seen San Antonio piping water from other parts of the state -- including some areas in the throes of drought.
Public pressure mounted on SAWS after it came to light they were considering a proposal from a Val Verde company to pump 50,000 acre feet of water from a county hard hit from drought. The Source talked to activists and government officials from Del Rio after their Mayor threatened a lawsuit against San Antonio.
SAWS announced last week that the desalinization plant was the best way to go about this, but not everyone is convinced including San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, who wants to keep the door open to fresh water supplies according to the Express-News.
We talk to SAWS about why desalinization is the plan to beat with Greg Flores, a spokesperson for SAWS.
*The Source airs at 3 p.m. on KSTX 89.1 FM -- audio from this show will be posted by 5:30 p.m.
