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The cute-looking Cheagle (crossbreed between Beagle and Chihuahua) dog breed will attract all those who see it due to its tiny size! Cheagle is not recognized by any registered kennel club such as the AKC (American Kennel Club) in the USA.
However, the Designer Breed Registry and International Canine Registry recognized this mixed dog breed. The dog is just a companion pet and not utilized for other purposes. Now, let us analyze the Beagle Chihuahua Mix.
Are you ready for this Cheagle quiz before you proceed further to check your understanding on Beagle Chihuahua Mix?
Let's woof!
[wp_quiz_pro id="12337″]
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Beagle Chihuahua Mix Infographic And Video
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Breed Characteristics Sheet
- Origin: Beagle – not clear(Europe), Chihuahua – Mexico
- Size: Small-medium
- Dog Breed Group: NA
- Purebred: No
- Lifespan: 10-14 years
- Height: 9-14 inches
- Weight: 9-14 lbs
- Coat Appearance: Double coated
- Coat Colors: Cream, brown, white, and black
- Temperament: Fun loving, loyal, affectionate, protective, friendly
- Good With Children: Yes but better with older children
- Intelligence Level: Moderate
- Good With Pets: Yes
- Hypoallergenic: No
- Grooming: Moderate-high
- Shedding: Moderate-high (seasonal)
- Barking: Low to moderate
- Suitable For Apartments: Moderate
- Need For Exercise: Moderate
- Easy To Train: Yes, early socialization and training needed
- Good For First Time Owners: No
- Health Issues: Dental problems, hip dysplasia, hypoglycemia, eye problems, heart problems
- Litter Size: 1-9 puppies
- Average Price: $300-$650 (US)
Cheagle Adults
Coat Color
The Beagle Chihuahua mix is normally seen in coat colors like Black, White, Brown, and Cream. They have acquired their solid coat from the parent Chihuahua.
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Appearance
The Cheagle has a short, shiny and soft coat. This dog breed has a broad rounded head and expressive eyes. Most of the Cheagles have long hanging ears and a wider muzzle, which resembles that of a Beagle dog.
It is highly probable that this dog breed will have medium fur with feathering, especially around its ears, legs, and tail.
Dog Pregnancy Calculator And Timeline
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Size And Lifespan
Beagle Chihuahua mix dogs are petty (small) sized. The average height of a dog in this breed will normally be between 9-14 inches. Likewise, the weight will be around 9-20 lbs.
The size of the Cheagle dog is dependent on the genetic makeup of its pure breed parents, the Beagle and Chihuahua.
They are easily manageable because of their small size and can be carried by owners/trainers during travel.
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Lifespan
A Cheagle dog can live up to an age range of 10 to 14 years if properly maintained with a good diet and comfortable living conditions in its home/kennel.
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Training
Cheagles are those dogs that get easily excited and they could be uncontrollable initially for training. A firm and experienced trainer can easily control this habit within a short time of commencing the training classes.
Likewise, the trainer must ensure that proper house training and socialization training are given to these dogs. It is important for every owner of a Cheagle to give socialization training to their dog from its very early age itself.
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Grooming
Since the Beagle Chihuahua mix dogs have short hairs and do not shed much, it is not problematic with respect to grooming and taking care. Daily soft brushing of the dog's hairs with a thick comb is the sole requirement.
You can also apply a good quality dog shampoo. It is also essential for the owner/trainer to keep the dog's nails well trimmed.
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Facts
Fun Facts
- This breed of dog is highly attention-seeking and wants the family to take care with utmost love.
- Interestingly, male Chihuahuas are more affectionate and loyal than female ones; Cheagles also acquired that unusual character.
- They have a small jaw and all the 42 teeth are crowded within. This may lead to a lot of dental problems.
Cheagle Puppy Names
|Male Dogs
|Female Dogs
Recommended Read:
Popular Dog Names
Top 100 Dog Names For Your Small And Large Canine Friends
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Price
The average price of a Cheagle puppy is somewhere between the prices of $300 to $650. However, the determinants of this price are the dog's age, health, and location of the puppy and the reputation of the breeder.
You can check Beagle Chihuahua breeders in your area here.
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Temperament
- Active – Dynamic character is a quality that needs to be highlighted once if we wish to speak about this dog.
- Brave – Bold and daring approach to alarming situations is very much present in a Cheagle. This is another excelling trait of this Beagle mix.
- Friendly – Likes to be friendly with children and other pet dogs unless and until if there is any harm from the other side.
- Protective – The Cheagle is very vigilant. Even the slightest trace of doubt about the secret entrance of a person into the house will make it alert and attack instantly.
- Affectionate – Loves to be in the company of its family members and even sits on their lap to express this quality
- Loyal – Sincerity to its owner/boss is a great quality that can be seen in a Cheagle.
- Fun Loving – These dogs wish to entertain the inmates of the house and also likes to get entertained
Cheagle Barking
To be precisely stated, the dog is more prone to barking. It depends on which parent breed (Beagle breed or Chihuahua breed) that the habit is inherited from. Generally, the dog is not much noisy.
Cheagle Food
Foods For A Cheagle (Beagle Chihuahua mix dog)
- Kibbles (Dry dog food)
- Sweet Potatoes
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Yoghurt
- Fruits like Apples, Bananas and Oranges
- Boneless chicken (cooked)
- Fish
- Duck
- Turkey
- Peanut butter
Foods to "Avoid eating"
Beagle Chihuahua Mix Health Problems
Some of the health problems Beagle Chihuahua Mix suffer from are:
1. Dental problems
- Loss of Appetite
- Difficulty in chewing food completely (chew only on one side of the mouth)
- Lethargy
- Unwilling to play or exercise
- Excess drooling from the mouth
- Bad breath
- Inflammation of the gums
- Bleeding
- Swelling
- Development of Tartar
- Bacteria like Streptococcus and Actinomyces infect the dog's teeth
- Poor Nutrition – Diets high in carbohydrates and sugars can cause tooth decay. Diet is a key factor
There are a variety of dental problems that a dog suffers and the treatment also differs accordingly. Formation of plaque and tartar in the dogs can be largely reduced by offering a specialized set of dental diets to the dog
Tartar buildup leads to gingivitis, a condition which causes inflammation and infection of the gums of a dog. However once the dog is affected with gingivitis it is important that the dog does not progress to the next stage of the disease, periodontitis.
The vet will put the dog under general anaesthesia so as to remove the formed plaque and tartar. Some oral medications will be prescribed for the dog to be taken at home and thus avoid higher tartar formation.
However, if dogs suffer from periodontitis, the first thing to do is to get its teeth and gums cleaned by the relevant professional.
For dogs in the severe stage of periodontitis, some of their teeth or complete removal of their teeth must be undertaken. Likewise, a part of the infected gums could also need to be removed.
Antibiotics are prescribed by the vet for at least three weeks for the infection that the dog experiences. The affected dog must be well cared at home so as to ensure that its affected gums heal.
The dog owner must give the prescribed level of chlorhexidine solution for his dog and wash the latter's mouth on a daily basis.
2. Heart problems
- Difficulty in breathing
- Loss of appetite
- Reluctance to walk or exercise
- Weight loss
- Experience difficulty in coughing
- Troubled sleep
- Bloated Abdomen
- Fatigue
- Congenital (Birth) problems
- Injury
- Infection
- Old Age
- Heavy exercise
- High protein and carbohydrate in the diet
Treatment of heart disease in dogs varies:
- Congenital (genetic and formed at the time of birth) and
- Acquired Heart disease
Normally, dietary advice and quality of life improvement are given to the dog owners to ensure that their dog's heart disease is managed properly. Strict instructions are given by the vet to a dog owner regarding use of an amount of salt in the dog's diet.
Limited salt must only be used in the foods that the dog eats. There are various medications and supplements given for dogs with heart disease, like for example say congestive heart failure.
Medications given to the dogs comprise:
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE) such as Benazepril, Enalapril and Lisinopril
- Diuretic drugs are used to remove excess fluids that are formed in the dog's body. There are various types of diuretics which the veterinarian will give in accordance with the requirement for the dog's body.
- Loop diuretics – Furosemide
- Potassium-sparing diuretics – Spironolactone
- Thiazide diuretics – Hydrochlorothiazide
- Vasodilators are a category of drugs that enable the body's blood vessels to feel relaxed and reduce any excessive pressure on the heart.
This will result in the heart to pump blood more easily and comfortably. Some examples of vasodilator drugs are nitroglycerine (Nitrostat®), sodium nitroprusside (Nipride®)and hydralazine (Apresoline®).
- Positive inotropes to enhance the force of the heart muscle beats such that it permits more blood flow to the lungs and the entire body.
Pimobendan (Vetmedin®) is a positive inotrope. Digoxin, dobutamine and milrinone are the other drugs that come under the positive inotrope category.
3. Eye problems
- Irritation of the eyes
- Reddishness of the eyes
- Cloudy or opaque appearance on the eyes
- Swelling of the dog's eyes or eyelids
- Discharge of thick greenish or yellow matter from the eye
- Frequent rubbing of the eyes with its paws or on the ground or bed
- Genetic problems
- Injury
- Allergies
- Infection
- Diabetes
- Corneal Ulcer
- High blood pressure
- Problems in the inner eyelids of both eyes
- Autoimmune diseases
- Kidney failure
- Liver failure
A veterinarian will treat the dog for eye problems based on the stage of the eye disease. In extreme cases, the veterinary surgeon will perform the needful surgery.
The non-surgical treatment comprises of:
- Dietary recommendations
- For bacterial or viral infection, eye drops or bacterial ointment
- Topical antibiotic ointments for severe cases
- Allergy relief medications
Surgeons perform cataract surgery for many dogs suffering from an advanced stage of any eye disease.
4. Hypoglycemia
- Laziness
- Delayed response
- Loss of appetite
- Increased urination
- Ataxia (lack of coordination)
- Exercise Intolerance
- Frequent thirst
- Twitching
- Paralysis of the hind limbs
- Seizures
- Collapse
- The enormous growth of pancreatic cells
- Liver Inflammation
- Cancer in the liver
- Portosystemic Shunt
- The dog's body faces high stress due to excessive exercising
- Glycogen-storage disorder
- Lower intake of glucose because of malnutrition
- Formation of toxic substances due to the intake of artificial sweeteners
- Insulin overdose
Generally, as an initial step, the blood sugar levels in a dog with hypoglycemia will be increased. Thereafter, home-based treatment like rubbing corn syrup or glucose is done on the dog's gums by the respective owner/trainer.
The next step will be to carry the dog to the vet if there is no improvement. Usually, the vet will administer IV (intravenous) fluids containing concentrated dextrose. He will then reassess the blood glucose levels of the dog.
The cause of hypoglycemia in a dog will be the key point of consideration for the stated treatment. There are various causes and they are:
- Suppose, the disease arises because of excessive exercising or fasting, the vet will recommend that the dog should take a considerable amount of rest. Thereafter, the necessary treatment towards recovery will be undertaken.
After monitoring the dog for a reasonable number of hours (say 9-10 hours) at the hospital, the vet will discharge the dog after giving some preventive instructions to its owner.
- If the dog suffers hypoglycemia due to portosystemic shunt, tumor or cancer then the veterinarian will insist for surgical treatment on the dog.
- Vets prescribe medications if the dog suffers inflammation.
5. Hip dysplasia
- Restricted movement of the body
- The lower level of activity
- Difficulty in rising up from the ground from a lying position
- Unable to climb the stairs
- Loose joints
- Disabled hind (back) legs
- Loose joints
- Stand with each leg too close (narrowly positioned) to one another
- Gait walk
- Stiffness
- Trauma
- The grating sound of the joints during movement
- Considerable loss of weight in the thigh muscles
- Shoulder muscles become bigger due to continual excess pressure applied to the front leg to compensate for the disabled hind leg
- Hereditary factor
- Poor nutrition
- Excess body weight gain
- Excessive or lack of exercise
There are a variety of treatments which the veterinarian could follow for a dog with hip dysplasia. Dietary instructions, medications and exercise are the non-surgical treatment methods.
If the dog faces mild to moderate stage of hip dysplasia and at times consideration of the surgery cost will prompt a vet to follow nun-surgical methods.
The medical advice and prescription given by a vet to dogs with hip dysplasia include:
- Advise the owner of the dog to reduce the body weight of their dog so that its hips do not get overstressed
- Avoid giving exercises to their dog on hard surfaces
- Recommend some soft exercises
- Prescribe medications for the affected dog like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids and aspirin
- Utilize joint fluid modifiers
In case if the dog's condition is severe and calls for surgery, the vet will perform a surgery on the dog and it could be:
- Double or triple pelvic osteotomy – Surgeons perform this operation on dogs that are below 10 months of age to make the ball and socket joint to function better.
The procedure goes like partial cutting of the pelvic bone and rotating the segments.
- Femoral head ostectomy – Vets perform this surgery on both puppies and adult dogs. The surgical procedure involves removal of the femoral head of the hip joint. As an after effect, there will be the formation of the false joint which will help in lessening the inconveniences that a dog suffers due to hip dysplasia.
Although this surgery cannot restore the normal hip function for a dog but can effectively reduce or eliminate the pain.
- Total hip replacement – Vets recommend the time-tested surgery to fit some metal and plastic implants in the place of the removed hip. The surgery will benefit the affected dog which can function freely with this artificial hip.


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Council for Medical Schemes on its 2010/11 Annual Report
25 October 2011
Chairperson: Dr M Goqwana (ANC)
Meeting Summary
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) spoke about some of its highlights in 2010/11 which werewere:
▪ The Council was dealing with the National Health Insurance (NHI) Green Paper that was published for comment by 31 December; schemes would continue to exist side by side with the NHI although their role might change.
▪ The Council was working on alignment with the Consumer Protection Act and was about to conclude a MoU with the Consumer Commissioner.
▪ CMS had received a clean audit for the eleventh year in a row, which was since its inception.
On the NHI system, the Council said that it had always supported and continued to support strategic reform of the entire health system in the country, which was why Section 7 of the Medical Schemes Act specifically mentioned that Council needed to advise the executive authority on matters that spoke to health care systems and health policies.
Amendments to the Medical Schemes Act were needed to ensure that medical aid schemes existed in an efficient way. Rising health costs were a major concern. Supply side regulation was required; on the supply side CMS assisted in curbing possible perverse behaviour where it was picked up. CMS monitored and reported on private hospital costs; a commission needed to be established to look into that and CMS was contributing and participating to make that happen but had constraints of resources, both financial and human. Price negotiations between schemes and providers should take place to address the rising costs.
On Prescribed Minimum Benefits (PMBs), the CMS was awaiting judgement from the High Court. The PMBs and Regulation 8 of the Act was an important pillar of the Medical Schemes Act. It was meant to protect individuals who were members of a scheme in cases of real need when very expensive and catastrophic medical intervention was needed. The CMS and the Department of Health and the country would be doing a disservice to members if that part of the pillar was broken. There were guarantees in the Medical Schemes Act. If the judgement ruled against the Council for Medical Schemes, all would need to rally to bring that important pillar back into the statutes. Regulation 8 of the of the Medical Schemes Act stipulated that schemes must pay for PMBs in full (at cost), and must be covered from the risk pool, not from the savings of the member contributing to the scheme. It covered serious and life threatening diseases/conditions; a list of 25 chronic diseases and any emergency condition. The CMS believed that medical emergencies were also an area that should be paid for in full; in an emergency it should not be an issue as to whether there was money or the medical scheme would cover or not. CMS noted the top ten complaints and explained how one should complain.
The CMS Head of Research and Monitoring provided information about how schemes worked and provided statistics. This was followed by a presentation on how the CMS funded itself.
Members asked questions about ex gratia payments; how the Council investigated and resolved members' complaints; how often CMS met with the providers about prices; consumer education; Auditor General findings on performance information that was deficient; why salaries had increased from R39 million to R47 million in one year; what was happening with the Risk Equalisation Fund that stabilised medical schemes; how CMS envisaged curtailing private hospital costs; why negotiations between providers and medical schemes were necessary despite the Competition Commission decision against this in 2004; inspections of medical schemes and the CMS growing litigation costs. Considerable discussion centred around the letter written by the Committee Chairperson to the Council for Medical Schemes about reaching a resolution to a disagreement with a medical aid scheme, to prevent the two from resorting to costly litigation. The Democratic Alliance saw this as an abuse of power as the Council should be independent of any political interference.
Professor William Pick, Chairperson of CMS for the past six years, had reached the end of his term and was warmly thanked.
Meeting report
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) delegation consisted of Professor William Pick (Chairperson); Dr Monwabisi Gantsho (Registrar); Ms Tebogo Maziya (Head: Financial Supervision); and Mr Thulani Matsebula (Head: Research and Monitoring).
Dr Monwabisi Gantsho (CMS Registrar) briefed the Committee and indicated that the highlights in the presentation were for the financial year 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011, but the overview of the medical schemes industry was for the period 1 January to 31 December 2010.
The mandate of CMS was derived from the Medical Schemes Act 131 of 1998, which governed CMS and the industry as a whole. At the heart of the Act was the protection of medical scheme beneficiaries and the regulating of schemes. CMS was the Statutory Regulator and as it became effective, it was constantly accused of abuse of power.
During the year under review the Council's strategic goals were reduced from seven to four:
- Ensure access to good quality medical scheme cover was maximised;
- Ensure that medical schemes and other regulated entities were properly governed, were responsive to the environment, and beneficiaries were informed and protected at all times;
- Be responsive to the needs of the environment by being an effective and efficient organisation; and
- Provide influential strategic advice and support for the development and implementation of strategic health policy, including support to the NHI development process with the benefit of regional and international experiences.
Among the highlights for CMS in 2010/11:
▪ The Council was dealing with the National Health Insurance (NHI) Green Paper that was published for comment by 31 December; schemes would continue to exist side by side with the NHI although their role might change.
▪ The Council was working on alignment with the Consumer Protection Act and was about to conclude a MoU with the Consumer Commissioner.
▪ CMS had received a clean audit for the eleventh year in a row, which was since its inception. CMS had challenges during that time but was assisted by the Portfolio Committee, the Department of Health, the Minister and all other public entities associated with it. Dr Gantsho asked for the Committee's continued support in dealing with matters that would assist in CMS continuing on the path of a clean audit.
Dr Gantsho turned to the Annual Financial Statements. CMS had received a clean audit; it had robust internal controls and a competent Audit and Risk Committee that oversaw the role of the internal auditors. CMS passed the Auditor General's readiness test in terms of the Performance Information Report. Revenue was derived from levies from the medical schemes, broker fees, and the Department of Health Budget. There was a misconception that the levies were paid by the schemes themselves; they were paid by the members of the schemes. Legal fees were of some concern as they consumed a large portion of the budget.
The major area of expense over the period under review related to staff costs 63%, legal fees 12%, and administration expenses 7%.
Dr Gantsho referred to the NHI system. The Council had always supported and continued to support strategic reform of the entire health system in the country, which was why Section 7 of the Medical Schemes Act specifically mentioned that Council needed to advise the executive authority on matters that spoke to health care systems and health policies. The Council also supported the Director General and the Department of Health on matters that required specialised care and specialised focus on those matters, and also assisted the Portfolio Committee on Health's Research Unit with in-depth information and contributed to health economics and policy research. A task team was exploring the NHI Green Paper to formulate a view on it by 31 December. The Green Paper recognised the continued existence of medical schemes although their role may change; medical schemes would co-exist with the NHI. It was recognised that medical schemes further advanced health care systems and access to quality health care in
Governance issues were important for the Council to monitor medical schemes. There were provisions in the Medical Schemes Act that the Council would very soon be asking to be amended. These had been identified over the past seven to eight years. Now that it was known that medical aid schemes would co-exist with the NHI it was critical that the Medical Schemes Act amendments (which had been in abeyance for some time since it was not known what would be happening with medical schemes) be effected now to ensure medical aid schemes existed in an efficient way. Now was the time for all parties concerned, including the executive authority and the Portfolio Committee on Health to assist the Council to amend the Act and CMS would identify those areas that needed amendment. If that were not done, many members of medical aid schemes would be exposed; the Act had to be amended. Dr Gantsho noted that boards that were not good in governance or did not comply with the Act were removed and curators appointed. Where it was found that boards were not fit and not acting properly the schemes could be put under liquidation or deregistered. The Council was currently formulating a view on the scope of applicability of King III to medical schemes.
Rising health costs were a major concern. Supply side regulation was required; on the supply side CMS assisted in curbing possible perverse behaviour where this was picked up. CMS monitored and reported on private hospital costs; a commission needed to be established to look into that and CMS was contributing and participating to make that happen but it had constraints of resources, both financial and human. Price negotiations between schemes and providers should take place to address the rising costs.
Dr Gantsho turned to Prescribed Minimum Benefits (PMBs). The CMS was awaiting judgement from the High Court. The PMBs and Regulation 8 of the Act was an important pillar of the Medical Schemes Act. It was meant to protect individuals who were members of a scheme in cases of real need when very expensive and catastrophic medical intervention was needed. The CMS and the Department of Health and the country would be doing a disservice to members if that part of the pillar were broken. There were guarantees in the Medical Schemes Act. If the judgement ruled against the Council for Medical Schemes, all would need to rally to bring that important pillar back into the statutes. Regulation 8 of the of the Medical Schemes Act stipulated that schemes must pay for PMBs in full (at cost), and must be covered from the risk pool, not from the savings of the member contributing to the scheme. It covered serious and life threatening diseases/conditions; a list of 25 chronic diseases and any emergency condition. The CMS believed that medical emergencies were also an area that should be paid for in full; in an emergency it should not be an issue as to whether there was money or the medical scheme would cover or not.
Mr Thulani Matsebula (Head: Research and Monitoring) said the medical schemes industry was seen as an integral part of the country's health system, and illustrated the impact of that on the population that was covered by medical schemes. The number of beneficiaries in the medical schemes industry had grown to 8.3 million from 8.1 million last year, while the number of schemes went down over the years. A fair amount of consolidation took place and some schemes were growing. The Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) came into being in 2006, after which the number of beneficiaries increased, but some schemes were affected by that. Thus the number of large schemes began to decrease slightly, the medium schemes remained more or less stable, and small schemes decreased at an accelerated pace. The smaller schemes were consolidating into larger schemes, a number being affected by GEMS and consolidated into larger schemes. The consolidation trend was continuing.
Mr Matsebula turned to the benefit options. In the open schemes sector the average number of benefits tended to be higher, which was an indication of a higher level of risk rating between the options. Where there was a large number of benefit options, there was a tendency to have certain categories of risky members being by default located in certain benefit options. There were a lesser number of benefit options in restricted schemes, which traditionally were linked to employer groups and as a result tended not to segregate according to risk.
The risk of ill health tended to increase with age. Open schemes had a stable age profile which tended to rise in 2006 about the time that GEMS came into being, and the restricted schemes started to have a lower age profile due to the impact of GEMS. In the year under review, open schemes had an older age profile and restricted schemes a younger age profile. That had implications for beneficiaries in other schemes because it meant there were older and sicker people in the open schemes, which made them more vulnerable and had viability implications for the industry going forward and explained some of the consolidation taking place.
Mr Matsebula highlighted that utilisation had gone down but in terms of expenditure for General Practitioners increased by 9%; for Medical Specialists increased by 12,2%, medicines increased by 5.6%, and hospitals increased by 10%. There was moderation in terms of the percentage increases. For example, in 2009 the private hospitals increase was 18,1% but this slowed down in 2010 to an increase of 10%. The same applied to medical specialists, the increase in the previous year was 19,1% and in the current year 12,2%.
Ms Tebogo Maziya (Head: Financial Supervision) briefed the Committee on how medical schemes performed financially in the past financial year.
The industry was represented by R96.5 billion of income, which was an increase of 13.7% from R84.7 billion in 2009. Claims increased by 11% to R84.7 billion against R76.3 billion in 2009.
Risk contributions increased by 13.7% to R87.7 billion; and relevant healthcare expenditure incurred increased by 11.2% to R76.6 billion.
Medical savings account contributions increased by 13.2% to R8.7 billion; and medical savings account claims increased by 12.0% to R8.3 billion. The reason for that was 2009 was a particularly bad year for medical schemes in terms of claims overall so that was adjusted by higher contributions in 2010, which was why overall contributions increased by more than claims.
In terms of contributions and claims per average beneficiary per month, average contributions increased by 9.6% to R975.3 per month; relevant healthcare expenditure increased by 7.3% to R858.4 per month.
Risk contributions increased by 9.6% to R886.9, compared to a lower increase of 7.2% for relevant healthcare expenditure to R774.6.
Medical savings accounts contributions increased by R4.9% to R110.8; and medical savings accounts claims decreased by 3.7% to R105.0.
There was a downward trend in terms of the risk claims ratio between 2000 and 2004, which was the period in which medical schemes had to build reserves and were paying out less of the monies received; schemes needed to build reserves and they did that at the expense of claims. There was a rise to 2006 due to the exit price being introduced and also the deregulation of prices by the Competition Commission, which led to higher costs. In 2006 was the introduction of deductions by medical schemes and lesser being paid out of the risk pool. 2009 was a bad year overall for medical schemes and in 2010 it came down to 87.3 because contributions increased by more than claims to adjust for the previous year's higher than average claim.
Non-healthcare expenditure increased by 6.9% to R11.6 billion. Open schemes increased by 4.8% to R147.1 per average beneficiary per life; compared to 3.5% increase for restricted schemes to R74.1.
Gross administration expenditure increased by 4.4% to R7.8 billion. Open schemes increased by 1.4%, compared to a higher increase of 13.1% for restricted schemes. The reason for that was that in the open scheme environment, the largest scheme in the country rebalanced its classification of non-healthcare expenditure. Some items that were previously in admin were moved to managed healthcare expenditure. Also in 2009 some schemes had large expenditure that was no longer there. That explained why the increase in open schemes was much lower at 4.1% compared to 13.1% for restricted schemes.
Managed healthcare expenditure included things like disease management programmes, pre-authorisations and those services that were classified as managed healthcare: management services; increased by 16.2% to R2.3 billion.
Broker costs increased by 8.9% to R1.3 billion; on an average member per month basis it amounted to an increase of 7.7% to R44.4.
In terms of solvency: all schemes, initially from 2000 to 2004 schemes needed to build up reserves, currently the requirement was 35% of contributions. Overall medical schemes were above the required solvency level, however, from about 2006 there was a decline in the overall solvency level, which was a function of a sector such as aging, which affected the ratio.
Ms Maziya explained the overall trends. From about 2006, which was when GEMS was registered, trends changed. In 2006/07 there was a slight increase in reserves for open schemes from 27.7 to 28.6, which was because members that left other schemes to join GEMS left reserves behind. After that it decreased, being affected by the aging. As government people left to join GEMS, they left behind an older risk pool in open schemes, therefore affecting claims, profit and solvency, which was why there was a downward trend. The pensioner ratio for restricted schemes was much lower than the pensioner ratio for open schemes. That was because GEMS attracted younger members. The smaller schemes that were consolidating were typically restricted but were collapsing into open schemes, which further increased the aging of those schemes.
Dr Gantsho announced that Professor Pick, who had been the chairperson of CMS for the past six years, had reached the end of his term as chairperson for the CMS. He would like the Portfolio Committee to note that he had served with distinction during that time; he provided leadership, he had coached and mentored many of the staff of CMS, and as the former Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand his skill and his background had been very handy in dealing with the young professionals at the Council for Medical Schemes to ensure their efficiency and effectiveness. The team had been very thankful to have worked with him. The end of October would be his last day as Chairperson of the Council for Medical Schemes.
The Chairperson thanked Professor Pick for the sterling work he had done. He hoped the Professor would write a book; he had mentioned that the first medical school started in Kingwilliamstown in the
The Chairperson thanked the Registrar for the work done; judging by the Auditor General's report, it was good. He noted that CMS was a statutory body. It would be very nice if some of the departments had people who were such hard workers. He noted that CMS asked the Committee for assistance, the Committee Researcher would be approaching CMS for some research work on the NHI so the Committee could decide which countries it should go to.
He thought the work of CMS was very difficult; people did not like being told that they were wrong, so CMS was treading a very thin line as a regulator. As the Registrar, Dr Gantsho had decided to work for CMS because there were problems in the medical aid industry, and there were still serious problems there, but the Regulator had to be someone who was very objective and in that objectivity be driven by humanity and kindness, and the regulating must be done by putting in corrective measures. There would be people who felt they were being abused, obviously that was not the situation. The Committee wanted CMS to ensure that there was some coverage for health for everybody, even for the person that could not afford it. The Green Paper spoke about a single payer and medical aids were concerned that if there were a single payer then they would go down; and when some of the medical aids were regulated they thought CMS was trying to kill them because it wanted to have a single payer. It was human nature that that would happen. Medical schemes could also be concerned because there might be people in the institution who were conniving with certain people to say 'lets kill that medical aid to get their members'. That could be covered using objectivity, humanity and kindness. They needed to understand that when talking about the Regulator it meant all of us looking in the same direction.
Ms M Segale-Diswai (ANC) was encouraged to note that CMS received a clean audit for the eleventh year.
Ms Segale-Diswai was concerned about consumer education. She had not heard of CMS before becoming a Member of Parliament. She had been frustrated with the issue of prescribed minimum benefits when she lived in a rural area 100 kilometres from Rustenburg and the medical scheme only allowed her to see a doctor in Rustenburg, irrespective of her circumstances. How did CMS reach people in those rural areas in terms of consumer education? How did they reach the cleaners and the ordinary people working in the mines?
Dr Gantsho responded that accessibility of "designated service provider" was put firmly into the education and training to educate members, to educate consumers, and to educate the labour movement. They would be informed of the existence of the PMBs and the designated service providers, and it was also indicated in the rules that were registered with the Council for Medical Schemes by the schemes, that those rules would typically outline the benefits and the options and the rules that the schemes must abide by and that the members needed to be aware of. CMS was picking up gaps in the process in that most of the members did not seem to be active enough in the affairs of their own schemes. The officials in the CMS were in most instances out in the field dealing with education and training all the trustees, principal officers and members of the schemes. Dr Gantsho admitted that it could never be enough; it was work in progress.
Ms Segale-Diswai suggested that CMS should brief the Committee on NHI.
Ms Segale-Diswai asked for an explanation of King III.
Ms Maziya responded that King III was basically a code of good governance practice that emphasised elements such as accountability, transparency, and ethical leadership. A new element had been introduced which spoke to concepts such as integrated reporting and CMS was using it particularly on sustainability to see whether medical schemes should in fact report on sustainability, and the Council was working with organisations such as the Institute of Directors (IoD) and SAICA (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants), which was the accounting authority in South Africa as to determine to what extent medical schemes should report on this, since it would have an added cost to the scheme, because if more items had to be audited, there would be more cost to the member.
Ms E More (DA) referred to CMS Expenditure 2010, 7% was 'Other operating costs', what were those costs?
Dr Gantsho responded that that 7% related to a host of other things that CMS had to deal with in order to continue functioning, such as cleaning services, banking charges, gardening services, and such things.
Ms More referred to the report of the Auditor General on page 161 of the Annual Report. Her understanding was that CMS received an unqualified audit with findings. What had CMS done with the performance information that was lacking or deficient in terms of validity, accuracy, consistency, and the other findings?
Ms More noted that the reported targets were not consistent with what was planned, and that CMS made changes without any approval, the content performance was not consistent with planned targets, and the plan and reported targets were not SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time bound).
Dr Gantsho responded that last year the Council had done a ten-year review of the Council for Medical Schemes. One of the important milestones was the migration in the regulatory environment to a point where CMS had a full Council that governed and tracked the governance, compliance, and financial stability of the industry. It was an important achievement that over the eleven years the clean audit indicated, though minimal growth in the membership in schemes at the time, it rose from 4.1 million to the 8.3 million people currently in medical aid schemes. Governance had improved. There were challenges that were being addressed. Compliance with the schemes and the regulations and the provisions of the Act had improved. There were still challenges the Council was addressing. The protection of members in terms of the complaints and adjudication, the appeals process had matured over that period of time. Dr Gantsho thought there was a clear relationship between the way CMS managed the resources and the service delivery that many members currently had. The people in this country who had a medical aid scheme had a voice to express when they were satisfied or dissatisfied. They had an institution they could go to when their matters were not resolved with their scheme. The Council for Medical Schemes had systems in place to deal with those that were not resolved. CMS encouraged medical aid schemes to deal with them by having internal resolution systems in place.
Dr Gantsho responded on the reported targets. CMS reporting requirements as per the Public Finance Management Act and the Treasury had over the past few months been made even better by interaction with the Technical Advisory Unit at Treasury. That unit guided the Council in terms of three-year plans for performance targeting. It made the Council revise its strategic objectives from seven to four. They also changed from instead of holding the strategic plans at the beginning of the year to holding it earlier in order to have six-month periods between the strategic plan and the actual end of the financial year. That had assisted a lot in terms of getting budgets approved.
Ms More referred to page 152 of the Annual Report and asked what CMS had done with all those audit findings in order to show that this year it achieved a Clean 1, which was one without findings.
Mr M Waters (DA) referred to page 137 of the Annual Report. Salaries were increased from R39 million to R47 million. Who determined the salaries and what was the reason for the huge increase? He asked for an indication as to what the salaries were.
Dr Gantsho responded that CMS was a service-orientated institution, and its strength lay in its people. The Council prided itself in having highly specialised, professional, highly skilled individuals and he had mandated the HR Committee to look for the best and they did not come cheap. The Council had in the past lost people because they were poached, therefore their salaries had to be competitive. To compromise would mean high turnover of staff and loss of the quality of professionalism. What was in the report with regard to staff costs was not out of line.
Mr Waters noted that the CMS would be formulating a view on the NHI, had it considered compulsory membership of medical aids for all working people? That would ensure that the age profile decreased and there would be more of the healthier people in the medical aid schemes.
Dr Gantsho responded that CMS would express that view to the Department of Health before 31 December as per the provisions of the Green Paper. It had to be remembered that this Annual Report was for the previous year, in which there was no NHI Green Paper on the table. A special team had been formed to zoom on the comments that should go to the Department of Health on the NHI Green Paper. The Council would use the expertise and eleven years' experience that it had to give guidance, to advise the Ministry and the Department of Health. The Council was also interacting with various research institutes in order to benefit from the experiences of other countries with regard to this.
Mr Waters asked what was happening with the Risk Equalisation Fund that was supposed to stabilise medical schemes.
Dr Gantsho responded that the REF was an important component of looking at the sustainability of the medical aid schemes. It needed to be part of the amendment to the Act. That Act had not been amended since 2003 and there were a host of amendments that looked at deepening the protection of the members going forward, including the REF. Currently there was no REF in place. This would be an amended.
Mr Waters noted that some boards had been removed; he asked for an indication of how many boards from medical schemes had been removed, and which were they?
Mr Waters referred to the monitoring and reporting of private hospital costs. The department had given an indication as to how it was managing private hospital costs through centralised bargaining, which went against the Competition Commission ruling. Had CMS given any input to the department for that and how did CMS envisage curtailing private hospital costs?
Mr Matsebula explained why negotiations were necessary. One of the difficult problems in health care was that there was a problem of information asymmetry. As a member of the public or as a member of a medical scheme, patients hardly knew what they would be paying for because it was not clearly defined, which was why it was necessary to have a transparent mechanism in place that would facilitate the sharing of information from the provider's side so that there was some measure of objectivity as to what medical schemes were reimbursing providers for, such as standardised types of benefits. In 2004 the Competition Commission outlawed that, they said the provider associations could not negotiate with medical schemes because that was deemed to be anti competitive. That had unintended consequences in that it ultimately resulted in a spike in terms of costs the medical schemes were incurring. Negotiations needed to happen because the health industry could not be treated as any other. CMS had subsequently been putting together some research projects looking at the problem of cost escalation; and had also given input into the process being run by the Minister and the Department of Health in terms of putting together a pricing commission to look at addressing those problems. All CMS could do was to give input into what was essentially a DoH process.
Medical schemes did engage with providers on an annual basis, but because the Competition Commission outlawed a collective negotiation each of the schemes had to negotiate with the big provider groups individually. Medical schemes did not have an equal bargaining power with the providers because of their size. A small scheme would find it difficult to negotiate with an institution such as Netcare. So they did negotiate but by and large the medical schemes became price takers and had to settle for what the providers asked. The central bargaining process was just a mechanism to make that process more effective than it was currently.
Mr Waters asked whether the Council had many decisions with regard to inspections of medical schemes, particularly with Medshield. It was his understanding that the Council had given instructions to proceed with the inspection of Medshield and could the Registrar and the Professor explain why the instructions of the Council had not been followed to date, and what was the problem in holding that inspection.
As far as the letter from the Committee Chairperson was concerned, Mr Waters asked the Professor to explain the contents of the letter. Mr Waters quoted from the letter as he asked questions: The Committee Chairperson had said 'once again Medshield had complained about the abuse of power by CMS officials'. What abuse of power was that, it seemed to be quite serious? The letter carried on to say 'we thought we had made some serious strides and moved significantly to finding common ground and a solution to this impasse. I am now informed that the CMS officials are seeking to reinstitute an inspection when we all agreed to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)'. What dispute resolution was that and what powers did the Chairperson have in finding alternative dispute resolutions? 'which both you and me endorsed'? He asked on what grounds the Chairperson endorsed that.
'This is most disappointing since both of us would be seen to have negotiated in bad faith or allowed CMS to blind side Medshield.' Who did they negotiate with?
'This could discredit both CMS and Parliament'. Mr Waters did not see how Parliament came into it because this Committee had not taken a decision.
'It was important to ensure that CMS appreciates that the Department of Health and Parliament wants to ensure ultimate buy-in by medical aids and schemes of the NHI system. We cannot have the Regulator embark on a collision course with own stakeholders and in the process, destabilising the industry and hope for the Department and Parliament to implement NHI successfully.
Medshield is the fourth largest scheme in the country and we need them as much as we need other medical aids and schemes. They said at our meeting that they want self-administration which helped reduce costs but also understand administration efficiencies better. We need such medical aid schemes.
Should we not succeed to manage the dispute resolution process which we have agreed and embarked upon' Mr Waters asked if they had embarked upon that?
'we are likely going to have the parties go to court and this would be most unfortunate and otherwise costly to all involved? Parliament is already concerned about the CMS budget which reflects large sums allocated towards escalating legal fees. It is thus not surprising that the legal budget has increased from R3 million to R8 million in three years. We think this can be managed better.
We had an understanding and an agreement. Please tell me what has changed and how do we return to the negotiation table with the intention to resolve this matter amicably and expeditiously,' Mr Waters asked the Committee Chairperson what that agreement was and how it had legal standing? 'without any legal wrangles and legal people?' That was the end of the letter from the Chairperson of the Committee.
The Committee Chairperson said that letter was addressed to Professor Pick and was not a public document. Members of Parliament were public figures and anybody could go to them when they felt aggrieved.
The Chairperson said he had received a letter from Medshield complaining that there was abuse of power by the Council of Medical Aid Schemes. He replied that he would communicate with Professor Pick and Dr Gantsho to hear their side of the story. The Registrar said there had been no abuse of power and the Chairperson suggested that they meet with Medshield. He felt he was empowered by Parliament to do that. He asked that the Registrar and Professor Pick and anyone they felt were important to come to that meeting. He did likewise with Medshield; he felt it was his duty to listen to them. Last year there had been problems with Bonitas and he assisted them and everything was resolved.
So they had the meeting and the Chairperson said his only role was to facilitate, but another reason was that Medscheme had said if the matter was not resolved they would go to court and that would escalate the legal fees of CMS. To avoid litigation, which was paid by scheme members, something had to be done. At the end of the meeting, CMS requested certain things from Medshield and Medshield agreed to those terms of reference. Both sides agreed to the terms of reference and he told them to see that it was implemented.
The Chairperson said he understood that medical schemes had fears about NHI as the 'single payer' and it was on that basis that he was at that meeting. He then received another letter to say that the same terms of reference they had gone back on. Despite reaching consensus, Medshield had a whole entourage of lawyers and he had said they must go, the resolution would come from CMS and Medshield. So now they said they had no option but to go to court again and he wrote to Professor Pick and said there was a process that was agreed to, what had changed? He was overseeing CMS and protecting the members of medical aids and their money, and in doing that also ensuring that the medical aids would not feel that they were being killed deliberately.
Prof Pick thanked the Members of Parliament for being patient with CMS over the past six years and for having conducted their oversight duty as well as they had. He had always enjoyed the questions asked of Council on their visits there and he hoped that they would continue in that vein.
The questions Mr Waters had asked were important for the Council to respond to and it was important that he made it clear to everybody, to Parliament and to the country, that the Council for Medical Schemes took decisions independently of any other organ. CMS was governed entirely by the Medical Schemes Act that this Parliament, that represented the people, had given it to administer. No one, not the Minister, not the Chairperson of this Committee, nor the President, could decide how the Council ought to govern. The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee could attest to the fact that CMS on the Bonitas matter insisted on doing what was the right thing.
He would not respond to the letter in public, he felt he should respond to the letter in writing.
Prof Pick clarified that CMS had authorised an inspection of Medshield under certain provisions of the Medical Schemes Act. The terms of reference were spelt out. During the course of the inspection, the organisation doing the inspection found things beyond the prescripts of that inspection and compelled CMS, on the basis of being accused of abusive power, to reconsider. The decision taken at that meeting to try to resolve the impasse, as mentioned in the letter, was that the staff of CMS would sit with the Medshield board of trustees and agree to the terms of reference, because there was indeed the possibility that the Council could be perceived to have not paid attention to the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, which would have really sunk all their efforts. So the Council had to be sure that when the inspection was done, no one could say it had gone beyond what was agreed to.
The staff of the Council and Medshield board of trustee members were meant to meet over time to agree to which things would be acceptable to both parties, but CMS always retained the right to inspect as and when was necessary. That agreement did not lead to any concrete outcomes and Council resolved that as there was no progress it would do an inspection. That decision seemed to have led to the letter from the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee.
Prof Pick emphasised that the Council had discussed the challenges of having outside persons asking CMS to engage with those that it was regulating. The Council was not averse to being reasonable and did not wish to be seen as an organ that abused its power, and it was open to meet with people. The decision taken by Council was that it would not in future entertain those kinds of approaches to the Council and its staff. That needed to be documented and registered. It was very important that the Committee as parliamentarians left the meeting knowing that the Council for Medical Schemes was not influenced by anybody, it would take its own decisions.
Ms B Ngcobo (ANC) referred to the number of litigation cases and asked who paid for the litigation; was it the members who contributed or the scheme itself?
Dr Gantsho explained that the highly litigious environment that CMS worked in was costly and various other ways of resolving problems needed to be put in place. He and his officials were waiting for proper guidance on how to deal with the issue. CMS could not tolerate having more than 50% of its budget being consumed by one item. The people who paid were the members of the scheme.
Ms Ngcobo asked in what way CMS encouraged members' participation?
Dr Gantsho replied that members must know what they were buying and what their benefits were. They must know the 270 PMBs may not be refused.
Ms Ngcobo noted the mention of admin fees by Medscheme, who paid at the end of the day? She asked a question about cancer treatments that were not made locally and were deemed to be ex gratia payments.
Mr Matsebula said one of the problems experienced in the past few years was that of ex gratia. This came up by and large when there were new treatments and new technologies to address certain ailments and where the scheme had to make a decision as to whether or not to fund the treatment as it was a discretionary benfefit. CMS left it to the discretion of the scheme because that was what "ex gratia" was. The Council approved the benefits of the scheme but when it came to that kind of treatment, the board of trustees had complete discretion on which instances to grant the ex gratia and which not to. Medical schemes were incurring problems in terms of operational losses, so as the operational losses increased, the ex gratia payments decreased.
Ms H Msweli (IFP) asked how the Council investigated and resolved members' complaints?
Ms Maziya explained that a member would first have to lodge a complaint with the medical scheme, which was supposed to have a dispute resolution committee that would consider the matter. If no joy came from that, then the member could go to the CMS, which would look at the case, engage the scheme, look at what the Medical Schemes Act provided for, and ultimately make a ruling, which may be in favour of the medical scheme or in favour of the member. If again the member was not satisfied, CMS had an appeals committee and an appeals board, and the member could ultimately go to court. It could be a lengthy and costly process to protect member rights.
Ms Msweli also asked how often CMS met with the providers about the prices? She asked for clarification on restricted and open schemes.
Ms Maziya explained that closed schemes were schemes that had restricted membership by virtue of either employment or professional associations, for example an Anglo Medical Scheme was restricted to employees of that company. Open meant any member of the public could join that medical scheme.
Ms Msweli asked whether CMS worked with all the schemes or only certain ones?
Dr Gantsho responded that the Consumer Protection Act and the Medical Schemes Act were two pieces of legislation but the view was that they were not subservient to each other. They had specific provisions as to what CMS should do in the same way that the National Consumer Commission did. Dr Gantsho had discussions with the Commissioner and some misunderstandings with regard to the two pieces of legislation were resolved and there should be a MoU as to what had to be dealt with by whom. When it came to members of the medical aid scheme and their rights being protected, the members had a place to go. The CMS had systems and experience and expertise in dealing with those.
Mr Waters thanked Prof Pick for clarifying the Council's independence from any political interference and the fact that the Council had obligations to fulfil and nobody could interfere with that. He would be taking the letter up to a higher level because he thought it was an abuse of power.
Mr Waters asked for confirmation. Once the Council agreed to inspect any medical scheme what was the time frame from the Council making the decision to the start of the inspection, and who was responsible for that? Had the inspection of Medshield started and when was it anticipated it would be completed?
Prof Pick responded that the Council passed a resolution to inspect; that was handed over to the Registrar and staff. The Council met four times a year. If the inspection took place between Meetings one and two the Council would get feedback at the second meeting. The Medshield decision was taken a little while ago. How long it took would depend on the details of the inspection itself.
Dr Gantsho continued that Ernest and Young did the inspection on Medshield. When the alternative dispute resolution took place, Medshield, the Council Chairperson, the Registrar, and the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, according to the terms of reference referred to, that process hit snags right from the beginning because the terms of reference could not be agreed on between the parties concerned. Ernest and Young came in as the inspector and that process also was not an easy one and could not be concluded. However, the Council had a copy of the inspection report of Ernest and Young. Subsequent to that, further discussions took place, calling all parties to sit together and iron out their differences. Those differences were between the office and the scheme and the request that came in from the Council with the guidance of the Chair were that point-by-point differences needed to be put before the Council in order to see who was not agreeing to the processes. Then that would necessarily lead to an inspection and that was where the situation was currently.
The Chairperson said it was nice to be in a democratic dispensation, but at the same time it was very important that when people complained, the complaints must be handled honestly, with integrity and looking at them to get the correct decision. The key was Medshield and CMS must sit down and see how to find each other, and having found each other, go and implement that.
It was not the first time that CMS spoke about amending the Act. The Committee had tried to talk to the department about those amendments and there seemed to be a delay, he was hoping that by next year something would have been done.
The Committee was still concerned about the legal fees that CMS incurred. It was very important that ways should be found to resolve those issues without wasting members' money.
As Members of Parliament, the Committee was continually listening to people who had problems. There would always be problems; they must be managed. Medical aid schemes had serious problems, they needed to be handled, but in handling them they must not be killed. They did not want NHI, but Parliament saw them as an important group. CMS must do what it was supposed to do.
Prof Pick said how the Portfolio Committee had changed. When he came in six years ago the atmosphere was openly adversarial. That had changed; he had a sense that there was more cohesion – yes there were differences, there was healthy robust debate and challenges, because the Members were the custodians of our democracy and it was their job, but he sensed much more coherence in the way the Committee was operating. As an outsider, he commended all the Members of the Committee and their courage to do what they were doing in the interests of the people of
The Committee's input into CMS's deliberations was very critical, yet many of its innovations and ideas came from this Committee. When he came in six years ago the Council did not have an actuary on its books and the Committee asked if it had an actuary. The Committee's questions and challenges were critical for the process of regulating medical schemes in
Prof Pick thanked the Committee for embedding the work of the Council in the national concept. People who worked in councils and entities did not always understand the bigger issues of which Parliament was the custodian. He wished the Committee well for the foreseeable future.
The Chairperson thanked the Professor; it gave the Committee enthusiasm to continue with its work. He had been given powers to work in this Parliament but tried to ensure he did not abuse them. He had always called for unity in the Committee, they came from different backgrounds but there must be unity. He wished the Professor well in his retirement.
The Chairperson thanked CMS for their presentation and responses.
The meeting was adjourned.
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Eastlake Claims Bi-District Championship with Win Over Jefferson
Photo by Christian Molinar
It was a barn burner down at Eastlake High School. A back and fourth chess match between the Lady Falcons and Lady Sliver Foxes did not disappoint. As in the words of Eastlake Coach Joi Woodard put it "We had to dig deep for it".
In the first half for the falcons it was all Cheyanne Bonilla and she bursted for 15 points out of Eastlake's 32. She would finish with 25 by the end of the game a huge chunk of the offense. By the 2nd half Herrera, and a few others would help carry the offense down the stretch.
Anahi Saenz for the Sliver Foxes kept them in the game with her doing a bit of everything on both sides of the ball finishing with 18 points. Jefferson would hang in the game fighting for offense rebounds and scoring second chance points. 15 points came for the 3 line in the first half.
Both teams would have to adjust to each other's game. Karina Chacon checked in late into the game and caught fire immediately hitting three back to back 3's. That flipped the lead in favor of the foxes by one point mid way through the 4th quarter and from then on the lead would trade off in a seesaw fashion. Eastlake would allow fewer offense rebounds and less 2nd chance points in the 2nd half which was essentially the difference going forward.
Down the stretch mistakes being made were crucial for both teams, Eastlake was able to capitalize on turnovers and commit fewer near the end thus pulling away and cutting down the nets at the end of the game to claim the bi-district championship.
Christian Molinar Reporting


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The Dannon Co. has announced that it will reimburse consumers for up to $100 Activia and DanActive yogurt purchases. It also plans to change its marketing and labeling to settle a class action product liability lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in 2008, alleges that Dannon overstated the yogurt's health benefits.
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Richmond City Baseball president John Braaten is keen to see more local youth enjoying the great game.
Photo by Chung Chow
Richmond City Baseball sowing the seeds
By Don Fennell
Published 10:36 PDT, Wed March 27, 2019
Every successful venture starts with a solid foundation, one built on basics.
It's an approach Richmond City Baseball has adopted, following a model that has long been a staple in a game known for its traditions.
But Richmond City Baseball has also been open to thinking outside the box exploring opportunities that further both player development and fun.
"RCBA continues to focus on our grassroots programming model, ever developing and modifying to ensure maximum youth participation and development," explains Richmond City Baseball president John Braaten.
The association, which has an exciting schedule planned for the 2019 campaign (the College Prep program kicked things off by holding 'spring training' in Mazatlan), has reconstructed its practice model. Instead of individual coach and team practices, David van Ostrand is overseeing multiple team practices.
"We also have a new mentoring volunteering program to aid with this, featuring players from our College Prep, 18U AAA and 15U AAA players working in conjunction with our 11U and under division practices and skills sessions as a form of giving back while earning volunteer hours needed in school," says Braaten.
Optimism is high for the College Prep team, under the guidance of longtime manager Raul Verde Rios, to enjoy another successful season. This will be Verde Rios' last year leading the program, which began with a five-game exhibition and many cultural experiences in Mexico.
With the official opening day set for 11 a.m. Saturday, April 6 at the fields adjacent to Palmer Secondary School, about 500 players are set to enjoy the great game of baseball. Mayor Malcolm Brodie will throw out the traditional first pitch, joined by several city councillors.
"We continue (for the third year) to provide free baseball programming in conjunction with Richmond Girls Softball (full Kindergarten to Grade 7 physical education week-long classes) in elementary schools, which promotes our sports—maybe to those who may never have had the opportunity," he says.
"Kids get many benefits from playing sports such as baseball," Braaten stresses. "Sports are a fun way for kids to be active. They also help kids grow in other ways, such as:
• learning new skills
• being part of a team
• learning to work with coaches
• learning the value of practice
• enjoying competition
"Our focus since I became president has been on our grassroots," Braaten says. "We have seen player retention remain high, a result of the many changes RCBA has implemented over the years including six-on-six games for 5U to 9U allowing for more opportunities and reps. More player engagement hopefully continues to build our brand."
• Opening Day: 11 a.m. Saturday, April 6 at Palmer fields
• College Prep Spring Training: March 21 to 28 at Mazatlan
• BC Baseball 13U Selects Camp: May 10 to 12 at Blundell
• BC Baseball John Main 13U AA 20-Team Tournament: May 23 to 26 at Palmer and Brighouse
(Featuring Taiwan's Hualien County team and Ottawa's South Bend Bears)
• College Prep Showcase Game: June 4 vs. Ridge Meadows at Nat Bailey Stadium
• Toronto Blue Jays Honda Super Camp: July 18 and 19 at Latrace Field
• BC Baseball College Prep Final Four provincials: Aug. 2 to 4 at Latrace Field
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News and Stories
UPDATE: Cold Temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley
February 19, 2018
Morning temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley, California's primary citrus growing region, dropped into the low 30s. Temperatures are expected to dip into the mid- to upper 20s tomorrow morning. Freeze warnings are in place for most of the valley through Thursday.
- Currently, no damage has been reported to citrus crops, but growers are taking necessary precautions as a freeze watch will be in effect through Thursday
- Temperatures must be below 28 degrees for 4 hours to cause damage to crops
- A heavy freeze can rupture internal cells, causing fruit to dry out and become unmarketable; ice crystals forming on the exterior of the fruit may develop into cosmetic issues
- Citrus growers are using irrigation water and wind machines as frost prevention tools to raise temperatures a few degrees, decreasing the risk of damage to their crop
- Nightly temperatures are expected to increase into the upper 30s towards the end of the week
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Coventry City defender Martin Cranie feels that the Sky Blues are ready to take on Derby County in the live Championship match on Saturday at the Ricoh Arena.
Speaking to Sky Blue Player at the club's weekly press conference, Cranie, who is in a side which is currently nine league games without a win under Andy Thorn: "We've had a couple of weeks break now, which has given us a bit of a breather.
"The lads are fit, they've been training hard, and we are prepared for the game.
"We've had a few injuries but a few of our players are coming back fit now, which gives everyone a bit of a boost.
"We've been playing well in the games and we just need to carry on from where we left off, and get that win we are looking for."
Picture copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/SB


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Someone sent me a link to this short TED talk by Paula Stone Williams
It's very good.
The key quote I took from it was "What do any of us really know about the shoes in which we have never walked?"
Someone sent me a link to this short TED talk by Paula Stone Williams
It's very good.
The key quote I took from it was "What do any of us really know about the shoes in which we have never walked?"
I've been a long time fan of the manga Battle Angel Alita, known in Japan as Gunnm (銃夢 Ganmu, literally "gun dream"), by Yukito Kishiro.
Alita's search for identity has been something extremely special and personal to me, and it is probably my favourite manga.
I have been aware of James Cameron's love project to turn this into a live action film, and have followed its progress through Development Hell with interest.
So when the film finally hit cinemas, I approached it with some trepidation.
Here are my thoughts on it, now that I have seen it.
This article was published a year ago, and is still utterly superb.
The fight for transgender rights is an urgent battle against what some have called the last bastion of socially acceptable bigotry. If we take the notion seriously that all humans are due equal rights, as many of us do, we must care about the rights of transgender people. We are currently in a situation where transgender rights are so far behind other groups in society that it should be considered a crisis.
Read on…
I read an article in The Guardian today about "Selfie Dysphoria"
It's an interesting article about how selfie filters are driving many people to use cosmetic surgery to make their face look more like their selfies, and how in the past people would bring photos of celebrities to a Cosmetic Surgeon whereas these days they are more likely to bring selfies with filters applied.
It's been recently reported in the Media [1][2] that there is a new female-only motorsport series being launched called "W Series".
British IndyCar driver Pippa Mann calls it a "sad day for motorsport" and that it will segregate women drivers. I agree with her.
Read the rest of this entry »
Just after Wimbledon Men's Final, fans everywhere learned what they had been waiting till the end of the match for. Not who won, but who would be the new Doctor Who.
To the shock of few, the new Doctor is to be a woman.
This could raise some really interesting gender pronoun questions and bring them into mainstream discussion. How will people refer to the Doctor's previous incarnations? And will it inadvertently, even by implication, address some of the issues that a transperson faces being mis-gendered when people refer to their old gender?
Of course, it does nothing to change the perception of gender binary as The Doctor has merely transitioned from one gender binary to the other, but it could rather ironically be a positive step as the issue becomes part of pop culture.
It will be interesting to see how things go. Will they will just whitewash it by having everything refer to the Doctor as "she", and nobody ever getting it wrong, even if they are a recurring character who doesn't know about the transition? Or will they will play on it by making her suffer the same awkward situations that many transpeople face of people using the wrong pronoun for them?
Pop culture has a habit of altering language and perception, so it will also be interesting to see what, if any, wider ramifications there are to this in society in general.
One thing is for sure, the internet will be awash with misogyny and transphobia right now.
As a genderfluid / two-spirit / 3rd gender person, I sometimes present as female and sometimes present as male. I've covered this several times in the past.
Often I see fellow t-girls referring to their girl side in the third person, even going as far as to say things like "Susan wants to come out today, and I can't stop her". Frankly talk like this scares me – it is surely inviting split personality. Or perhaps they feel guilt or shame about their transgenderism and it is a way for them to externalise it and compartmentalise it? I don't know, but I'm certainly not comfortable with the idea.
I was in my local Co-Op the other day and they had Binky nail varnish on special offer at £2 a go.
Having really enjoyed wearing my best friend's "Countess" by Barry M that we both wore during a weekend away with her recently, I was drawn to the glittery purple "Purple Shimmer" in the Binky range, and also to "Pink Crystal". I figured that for a fraction of the price of an OPI nail varnish, they were cheap enough to give it a go.
As an aside, I have to say that "Purple Shimmer" and "Pink Crystal" sound like characters in 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' which made them even more appealing to me. 🙂
I haven't tried Pink Crystal yet, but I have worn the Purple Shimmer.
It went on very thick and gel-like. One coat was almost enough, but I did two coats to get a deep even coverage. It dried very quickly between coats.
However, it took three coats of clear top coat before it stopped feeling like sand paper, and I fear it's going to be as hard to take off as the Barry M was.
Durability is good so far, and I haven't had any chips yet after 5 days. I'll update this post in a few days with further information, including how easy it was to remove.
Well, as expected it was an absolute nightmare to remove! But before that, it lasted a good 10 days before it had to come off, and that was mainly because it was growing out. So I call that rather good value for money.
Well… wow. What do you make of this? Richard O'Brien responding to Germaine Greer's comments on transgenderism.
I agree with Germaine Greer and Barry Humphries. You can't be a woman. You can be an idea of a woman. You're in the middle and there's nothing wrong with that. I certainly wouldn't have the wedding tackle taken off. That is a huge jump and I have all the sympathy in the world for anyone who does it but you aren't a woman."
~~ Richard O'Brien
My opinion on this is that I think Germaine Greer is a fairly abhorrent person with regards to her views on transgenderism, but I think Richard O'Brien is kind of making a fair point, although it comes across rather badly.
As a "third gender" person myself I can see what he is saying – if I had surgery then it wouldn't alter the person I am inside, it would only affect my outward appearance.
Your gender identiy is a state of being – an internal state of mind – and physical genitalia have little bearing on that. The difference between him and Greer is that he appears to suggest that he thinks it is possible to be a woman even if you weren't born one genetically, and she emphatically does not.
I don't understand how she can campaign for equality, acceptance and inclusion, and then say that trans women are not women but are men trying to usurp and subvert feminism. What an abhorrent thing to say!
By contrast, Richard seems to be saying that you can be a woman inside and no matter what you do (or don't) to your genitals, who you are remains. As in, still a woman. And I can totally accept that.
If that's not what he meant, and instead he really is in agreement with Germaine Greer's bigotry, then obviously I don't endorse that. However, what *I* am saying is that who you are inside is what is important and your physical attributes less so.
That isn't to say that gender reassignment surgery is wrong, or unnecessary; it's perfectly natural to want your physical appearance to match your gender identity should you genuinely need to transition. But by the same token, no matter how much surgery you have you will never reach the nirvana of being exactly the same as if you had been born differently. And, further, there is immense pressure on transgender people to transition from one society-endorsed gender binary to the other, and as I've observed many times in this blog, there are more options and states of being than that.
So, in conclusion, my interpretation of what Richard O'Brien is saying is that he is advocating finding contentment in being yourself rather than feeling pressured into transitioning. And that is a world away from agreeing with Germaine Greer.
A month ago, I posted a reaction on my public Facebook page to Ted Cruz's comments on North Carolina's decision to pass a law which makes transpeople use the public toilets (restrooms) of their birth gender rather than their identified gender, particularly his rather horrific comment that 'Men should not be going to the bathroom with little girls'
A friend recently told me that my posted reaction was very good, but that since she isn't on Facebook she would have never have seen it if I hadn't mentioned it to her and linked her, and suggested that I repost it here.
So, here it is:
America's intolerance really saddens me. But this is a country that only relatively recently moved away from institutionalised state-sanctioned racial segregation, and where interracial sex is still seen as a "kink", and where racism and homophobia are still a real issue. As is gun crime, of course. So it's hardly surprising that transphobia is also a real issue in the USA.
For me, as a transperson, the biggest insult is the insinuation that I would be a danger to women when in girl mode. I mean, seriously WTF? I would be at far more danger from looking like an attractive woman and being forced to go into the men's loos and having some bloke assault me.
Also, is Ted Cruz really saying that if they let him into a female toilet he would be unable to stop himself from assaulting women and young girls? Or is he saying that it's just all transpeople that are rapists?
I'm genuinely terrified for America's future.
Since I posted that, the U.S. Department of Justice and North Carolina are now involved in a lawsuit over this (not my Facebook post! I mean the law that NC passed), with the DOJ taking a very robust and heartening stance, and not only condemning it utterly but making reference to the Civil Rights Movement.
An article by Mark Joseph Stern on Slate calls this the "'I Have a Dream' moment of the Trans movement", and goes into it in far more detail than I will here.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch is quoted as saying:
This is not the first time that we have seen discriminatory responses to historic moments of progress for our nation. We saw it in the Jim Crow laws that followed the Emancipation Proclamation. We saw it in fierce and widespread resistance to Brown v. Board of Education. And we saw it in the proliferation of state bans on same-sex unions intended to stifle any hope that gay and lesbian Americans might one day be afforded the right to marry. That right, of course, is now recognized as a guarantee embedded in our Constitution, and in the wake of that historic triumph, we have seen bill after bill in state after state taking aim at the LGBT community. Some of these responses reflect a recognizably human fear of the unknown, and a discomfort with the uncertainty of change.
And, further, she says:
But this is not a time to act out of fear. This is a time to summon our national virtues of inclusivity, diversity, compassion, and open-mindedness. What we must not do—what we must never do—is turn on our neighbors, our family members, our fellow Americans, for something they cannot control, and deny what makes them human. This is why none of us can stand by when a state enters the business of legislating identity and insists that a person pretend to be something they are not, or invents a problem that doesn't exist as a pretext for discrimination and harassment.
This restores my hope in America somewhat. I'm gladdened that people in power and authority are prepared to stand up for what is decent and fair.
I fervently hope that this will continue, and that decent open-minded people will continue to remain in power and authority. Right now, this is by no means certain with the current Presidential Election circus but as an outsider looking in, all I can do is hope that decency and common sense will prevail.


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Tomorrow is the big day for the city's final inspection.
My Australian Shepherd/Collie mix will miss the workers coming in the morning. She thinks they are her backyard buddies now.
The weather is warming up here. I thought I was planting the rose bushes early enough to get them established a bit before the summer heat starts.


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When you decide to let someone else do the driving, it's often because you want to be able to relax and leave the transportation in someone else's hands. Maybe you're headed to a gala event and want to be able to enjoy a few glasses of champagne, or perhaps you just want to be free to talk and laugh with friends on a road trip without the risks associated with distracted driving. You may be calling on a limo service to get you to the airport on time and avoid leaving your car in long-term parking, or you may be hiring a stretch limo to add some glitz and glamour to your outing.
Regardless of your reason for calling a limousine service, you have certain expectations when you hire a car service. You're putting your safety in the hands of both the driver and the company, and paying for the privilege.
Despite regulation of the livery industry, New York City and the surrounding area has seen its share of serious limousine and other hired car accidents. For example:
Though these three limousine accidents were high-profile, local, and relatively recent, there is nothing new or unusual about serious limousine accidents. It's been 20 years since the Detroit Redwings' Stanley Cup celebration was cut short when their star defenseman and two others were seriously injured in a limo crash.
In any car accident case, the suspicion of negligence generally falls first on the drivers of the vehicles involved. Limousine accidents are no exception. Though the drivers are professionals entrusted with passenger safety, they are no less likely to get fatigued, become distracted, or otherwise act negligently on the road. Liability may also lie, at least in part, with another driver. In the case of the four young women who lost their lives on Long Island, the truck driver who hit the limo had been drinking at the time of the accident.
Other parties who may share liability include:
Experienced New York limousine accident attorneys like those at Dansker & Aspromonte can help you pursue the compensation you deserve after a limousine accident. If you've been injured, call 212-732-2929 or fill out the form on this page to schedule a free consultation. You don't have to fight this battle alone.


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I love photographing this little beauty and her mommy and daddy … and to get a beautiful fall evening at Round Hill Farm — what could be better — WELL maybe hearing that they needed a few announcement pics of their growing family!! Whoo Hoooo
Here's a peek at their session … {{hugs ~France}} When your baby girl is bringing you gifts … the best expressions!! A little break time with daddy …And then over walked Mr. Moo Cow. lol (yep that's what I called her) We had a runner … so the only way to get this pic was for daddy to hold Summer's hands (those legs) <3 AND then there were 4 (pumpkins that is) 🙂 … so excited for you guys.
If you have been thinking of having professional portraits done with your little ones, there's still time. For outdoors we just have to dress a little warmer 🙂 Contact me HERE ~Francine


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Doo Wop Shop 25th Anniversary Spring Concert
April 21, 2018
7:00 pm-8:30 pm
Mahar Auditorium
UMass Amherst Campus
Spring is here. The birds are singing, the sun is shining, the tank is clean, and the academic year is drawing to a close, which means it's time to celebrate. For the Doo Wop Shop, this means celebrating several things:
Firstly, it means celebrating all of the work we've put in over the course of this year. As a group, we have learned and performed over 35 arrangements this year, both old and new, and we are super excited to show you some more of them.
Secondly, it means celebrating our four phenomenal graduating seniors: Eli, Ethan, Henry and Varun. These guys are incredibly talented and hardworking, and have left a positive and lasting mark on our group, as well as all of its members.
Thirdly, and especially this year, it means celebrating all of our DWS alumni The group is 25 years old this year, which means both that we can officially rent a vehicle, as well as that we've been around for quite a while and have had a lot of members whom we love dearly.
And finally, it means celebrating you. While we do love to simply make good music and sing, the thing that really makes it all worthwhile is having people who want to take the time out of their day to come out and hear our music; to our supporters, new and old, we truly do appreciate you all from the bottom of our 10 hearts.
In short, we have a heck of a lot to celebrate this spring, so come join us one last time this year for a show you are not going to want to miss.
Event CategoryMusic Music Performance


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Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Words can't describe how much this man's music has meant to me and still means to me. I have never cried over a celebrity death before but I sit here listening to his music on ITUNES and I'm devastated. Toward the end of his career he had a tortured life. Here's hoping he finds that peace he sought. You'll be missed Mike.
Sunday, April 26th, 2009
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
I think the only thing this woman deserves is to have her children taken away and put in a stable environment, but if you want to donate for the care of her children, she has a website to make donations.
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
I went to the inauguration on Tuesday and it was a completely amazing experience. Me and my friends went down to the DC area the night before and crashed at my parents house. It was lucky considering every hotel within fifty miles of DC was booked or so it seemed. We woke up at 2:30 in the morning just to catch the train into DC. We were so lucky because my aunt works in one of the building on Pennsylvania Ave right on the parade route. That's where I was. It was huge party with friends, family and her coworkers. There was food and real toilets!! (I can't do the port-a-potty thing) We watched the speech on a jumbo screen television and then watched the parade from the balacony. It was so cool. We had a great view. I think the best part of the day was that everyone sensed the history surrounding them and people were a little nicer to each other that day. Smiles were a little bigger, and despite the cold, everyone was a little happier.
I don't know if Barack Obama being President will suddenly change the world. But I walked away with a sense of hope for the future. He's one man and he can't do it alone. But having attended, I think he's going to get a lot of help.
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
After seven years of a self-imposed exile from family and friends, fashion designer Jocelyn Winters is home to celebrate her father's upcoming wedding. Before she can enter into the joy of the occasion, though, she must first make amends for leaving everything she knew and loved behind—which means facing her childhood sweetheart.
Seeing the hot, sexy rancher after all this time makes her realize she still loves him. But a painful secret from her past stands between them, one she's determined to keep.
Cade Devlin loved Jocelyn until their bitter breakup put his heart on permanent hiatus. He thought he was over her—until she turns up at the ranch, forcing him to admit that her abrupt departure all those years ago still stings. It's disturbing how easily she once again consumes his thoughts…and how he still can't keep his hands to himself when she's around.
Their attraction is stronger than ever. Yet Jocelyn's secret is a silent reminder that she can never let him back into her heart—unless she wants to break his all over again.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
Dante Grimaldi has traveled the world to track down an elusive rogue vampire and its cohorts who are responsible for the torment of his family. Now, they've crossed the final line by kidnapping the Grimaldi offspring. In a race against time to save his family, Dante will destroy anyone who gets in his way. Even the sexy shape-shifter who has offered to help him in his search, if he has to.
Isis Vasquez fell for Dante at first sight. But there's one problem; she has a past connected to his enemies. It's redemption she's after when she offers assistance to the Grimaldi clan, really. Okay, but being close to Dante is a big added bonus.
When they work together, the attraction is instant. The sexual tension threatens to set the world on fire. But can they work out their differences before she's subject to Dante's wrath?
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, dubious consent, fisting, ménage (m/f/m, f/m/f/m with light f/f interaction), spanking, strong violence. Also contains reference to incest between secondary characters.
Monday, January 5th, 2009
All I can say is wow.
Friday, January 2nd, 2009
Got this from another blog. Every little bit helps.
We all know Sharon Cullars, the uber-talented author of Again, and The Object of Love. Unfortunately, Sharon lost her job a while back and has been unable to find work. As a consequence her home has been put in foreclosure, which would leave her and her mother homeless. To prevent this happening we need to raise $10,000 as soon as possible. I realize that money is tight for everyone these days, but Sharon and her mother really need our help. Please give as much as you can.Â
If, in the event we can't raise enough to save her home, Sharon will use the money for moving expenses to an apartment. Thank you so much for your help.
For more info please go to:


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Arizona Auditor General Criticizes Lack Of Oversight In State College Real Estate Development
A new report from the Arizona auditor general has some pretty critical words for the body that governs the state's public universities.
Specifically, the report said the Arizona Board of Regents lacks oversight in how it governs real estate transactions at ASU, NAU and UA.
The state allows ABOR to own and lease its property for things like commercial development that benefit the universities, but the report said ABOR doesn't have written guidance for these deals or enough oversight of them, which has sometimes resulted in the inappropriate use of the proceeds.
The Show spoke to John Arnold, the executive director of ABOR, who said the board realized its governance wasn't complete in this area, so they have already taken some important steps.
To learn more about what the auditor general's report concluded, The Show also spoke with Jeff Gove. He's a performance audit manager with the Office of the Auditor General.