Optima

OPTIMA, Orange County's pioneering health care program for Medi-Cal recipients, has reached an important milestone. Its new structure for the delivery of care combines the best attributes of this region's traditional providers and our experienced managed care plans. By including both in a competitive arrangement, OPTIMA will bring out their best in terms of costs and quality of care. This is good news for Medi-Cal recipients, who can look forward to better access to quality care.

With a growing segment of America's younger car buyers snatching up Korean cars , Kia used the 2013 New York Auto Show to show off a trio of new and refreshed vehicles aimed at continuing the trend. The biggest news was the world debut of the all-new Kia Soul, the funky hatchback utility-thing that's gained popularity - or at least notoriety - for its ads featuring dancing hamsters. The Soul has been a big hit for the South Korean automaker, ranking as the third most popular model Kia sells.

With a growing segment of America's younger car buyers snatching up Korean cars , Kia used the 2013 New York Auto Show to show off a trio of new and refreshed vehicles aimed at continuing the trend. The biggest news was the world debut of the all-new Kia Soul, the funky hatchback utility-thing that's gained popularity - or at least notoriety - for its ads featuring dancing hamsters. The Soul has been a big hit for the South Korean automaker, ranking as the third most popular model Kia sells.

Kia will recall almost 150,000 older Optima sedans and Rondo crossover utility vehicles because of a defect that could prevent the driver's side airbag from deploying in a collision, the company said. The South Korean automaker said the recall includes 2006-2008 Optimas and Rondos from the 2007-2008 model years. The company no longer sells the Rondo. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the clock-spring assembly used in the airbag system can become damaged over time and prevent the airbag from deploying.  The problem triggers the airbag warning light to go on in an affected vehicle, according to Kia. Drivers of cars that don't have the warning light illuminated have a functioning airbag, according to the automaker.

A judge Tuesday denied a petition from a large national health corporation to halt enrollment in Cal-OPTIMA, Orange County's new managed-care system for Medi-Cal recipients. The petitioner, Maxicare Health Plans Inc., argued that enrollment should be stopped because the county lacks federal approval for the program and improperly spent public funds to set it up.

John Cochran III, elected chairman of the organization created to improve health care for Orange County's 225,000 Medi-Cal recipients, said Wednesday there is a pressing need to find more start-up funding. Cochran, the administrator of Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim, said that while the state has promised to provide the county-based program known as OPTIMA with $500,000 in seed money, an estimated $3.

As Orange County embarks on a potentially risky $450-million effort to save tax money by revolutionizing health care for 250,000 indigent Medi-Cal recipients, a health official in Santa Barbara County makes a sobering observation. "Orange County is going to need some damned good management and some damned good luck," Charles C. Bailey said.

The organization that is revamping Orange County's Medi-Cal system, which was imperiled financially by the county's bankruptcy, has accepted a $3-million loan from Kaiser Permanente of Southern California that should ease its fiscal woes. Officials announced the loan to the emerging OPTIMA program Monday with obvious relief, saying that if Kaiser had not stepped in, they might have been forced to interrupt much-heralded plans to bring 300,000 Medi-Cal recipients into managed-care networks.

Cal-OPTIMA, Orange County's new Medi-Cal managed-care network, will enter contracts with 40 health-care providers from throughout the county, integrating new participants and long-term Medi-Cal providers in the novel system, officials said Wednesday. "We're very satisfied" with the level of response from contractors and with their geographic distribution, said Mary K. Dewane, chief executive officer of Cal-OPTIMA. "We continue to enjoy participation by a whole variety."

Enough doctors and hospitals have applied to join the county's new health-care system to provide the poor with sufficient locations for care, a spokesman for the system said Thursday.

Kia, which has launched nine new products in the last three years, plans to move forward with design-led transformations, unveiling the Kia GT four-door sports sedan concept for the first time in the United States at the L.A. Auto Show. “This is Kia's first rear-wheel-drive concept,” said Chief Design Officer Peter Schreyer at Wednesday's press conference. “Beneath the hood is a 3.3-liter turbocharged engine, 395 horsepower, eight-speed automatic transmission. Put it all together, what you get is a four-door sports sedan that's sleek and masculine and breathtaking.” “For us, we've been known as a fuel-efficient, quality and value brand,” said Michael Sprague, marketing vice president.

Kia Motors America and Los Angeles Clippers all-star Blake Griffin are extending their affiliation, which started with the NBA player dunking over a Kia Optima sedan this year, as the company announced a multiyear deal that would make Griffin a global spokesman for the automaker. Kia and Griffin declined to disclose the terms of the deal. But the partnership will involve Griffin appearing on advertising material, making appearances for the company and taking part in other brand events, according to a statement.

You know you like a car when the only thing you would change is the hard, uncomfortable seats. Automobiles are the amalgamation of thousands of parts designed and created by hundreds of individuals. Each piece provides an opportunity for the car to provoke the ire of the driver or passenger. Some cheap plastics here, ungainly taillights there, and very quickly you have an inert resident of dealers' lots. So color me impressed with the 2011 Kia Optima. If some indurate cushions are the only thing to complain about on the $27,440 EX model I tested, the company has a winner on its hands.

2011 Kia Optima Base price: $19,690 Price, as tested: $27,440 Powertrain: 2.4-liter DOHC inline four-cylinder engine; six-speed automatic Horsepower: 200 at 6,300 rpm Torque: 186 pound-feet at 4,250 rpm Curb weight: 3,323 pounds Wheelbase: 110 inches Overall length: 190.7 inches EPA fuel economy: 24 mpg city/34 mpg highway Final thoughts: Kia's best pejorative...

IT'S one of the most visible choices Sen. Barack Obama has made, and it's burning up the blogosphere and YouTube, being debated on the radio, even parodied. It's a typeface, of all things, one called Gotham that the Illinois Democrat chose for his rally banners and campaign signage, a collection of letter shapes some typographers are calling the hot font of 2008.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s redesigned 2007 Camry has aced an insurance group's tough set of front and side crash tests but was bested by a South Korean-made competitor, the 2006 Kia Optima, in a rear crash test, according to data released late Sunday. In its latest round of tests, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded the new Camry its top ratings of "good" in front and side crashes. But the institute said the sedan was only "marginal" in protecting occupants in a 20-mph rear collision.

Orange County today is expected to adopt a one-of-a kind system for providing health care to its 300,000 Medi-Cal recipients. OPTIMA, the organization creating a new managed-care system for Medi-Cal patients in the county, is trying to curb Medi-Cal's burgeoning cost in part by shifting indigents away from expensive hospital emergency rooms to an expanded pool of doctors close to their homes who can offer regular health care.

A San Diego health care executive has been chosen chief financial officer of an emerging system to improve delivery of health care to Orange County's 275,000 Medi-Cal recipients. The $130,000-a-year post will be filled by P. Victor Gonzalez, formerly chief financial officer of Community Health Group, a health maintenance organization serving 40,000 Medi-Cal enrollees in San Diego, officials of the new Orange County program said Monday.

Western Medical Center-Santa Ana said Friday it may no longer be able to provide medical services to some 4,300 of Orange County's poor, citing $10 million in losses for indigent care last year. The hospital notified CalOptima, the county's medical care agency for the poor, that unless a better pay schedule was negotiated, it would leave the program in six months. CalOptima disburses government funds to companies and hospitals that provide health benefits to Medi-Cal patients.

The owners of about 50 drugstores in Little Saigon have filed a lawsuit and closed their shops to protest a county-run pilot program that they say would force them to divulge private information about their mostly Vietnamese customers.