The Iowa 2008 blog is a companion to AARP Iowa's Voices for the Future. Conversations reported here are the views of attendees and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of AARP. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that does not endorse any candidates nor make contributions to political parties or candidates.
Marshalltown, Iowa
A highly engaged group of Marshalltown citizens gathered at the Iowa Valley Community College on Thursday evening for a lively conversation about health care and financial security. Participants included a former college instructor, librarian, homemakers, bank teller, a retired waitress, retired factory workers, county workers and independent business owners.
There was agreement in the group of the need for basic health care plans that would be affordable and accessible health care for all Americans, at the same time, there was concern the government would be incapable of managing a national health care system.
The group also agreed on the need for financial education for all beginning in grade school and through college. There was considerable discussion about the lack of incentives for savings, contrasted with the ease of obtaining loans. The group felt there is overwhelming need for Americans to understand how to save, how to invest and how to budget.
There was also discussion about the need for business and industry to change their human resource practices. One participant, who also volunteers for SCORE, an entrepreneurial resource program, lamented the situation where middle-age workers have had an accident on the job and lose their jobs. He comments that he is deeply bothered by the fact that people who get hurt in working for industry end up getting abandoned by them.
The group agreed that business should be required to live up to a business code of ethics for their workers.
Dubuque, Iowa
Stormy weather didn’t keep a group from gathering at the Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School in Dubuque.
One participant noted that Cuba was the only country in the world where all citizens have the same coverage for healthcare. Others thought that there should be some kind of baseline of coverage for Americans, leaving the option for people to pay out-of-pocket for any additional coverage they wish to purchase. Many expressed that they think people should receive care when it is necessary and desirable. One participant suggested that if the government is providing a baseline for care, they should cover everything, instead of everything being so departmentalized (also including dental, eye care, etc.).
With regard to Social Security, one gentleman said if the system was privatized he would want similar investments for all, so that fluctuations would not mean there would be winner and losers (all would stay the same).
What is security?
Manchester, Iowa
A group that included some first generation immigrants from Europe gathered in Manchester at the Community Center to discuss the importance of health care and long-term financial security. Right away the group began discussing shortfalls in the United States’ healthcare system in relation to the systems in Europe. They expressed that the care in their native land was sufficient and no one fell through the cracks. This was important to them.
The group agreed that people should start taking preventative measures to lower health costs and employers need to continue to fulfill their responsibility by helping with health costs. There was a strong feeling about partisan politics and lobbyists inhibiting what real people need in America.
Waterloo, Iowa
Allen College was the location of the 34th conversation for the Divided We Fail effort in Iowa. The participants came from a wide variety of occupations, including a lawyer, truck driver and several healthcare workers.
The conversation yielded a unique perspective from the healthcare field dealing with prescription drugs. It started with the story of a healthcare worker analyzing a situation where an individual was forced to pay a seven-hundred dollar co-pay for a bottle of pills, and was forced to use a credit card to cover the cost. Fearing this situation, participants called for action by the government to limit sky-rocketing costs of drugs.
Another participant had recently retired. She used COBRA to continue her insurance, but the coverage has a gap of eight months where she will have no insurance before she is eligible for Medicare. Other’s shared in the fear of being uninsured as well.
One participant was against universal healthcare because he had smoked for a number of years and he didn’t think that others should have to pay for his poor choices.
Common ground was reached by the group when they agreed that the government should provide a program that would cover those who fall through the cracks with affordable coverage.
Iowa Falls, Iowa
A variety of interesting perspectives were shared during an afternoon conversation at Ellsworth Community College. A retired teacher, retired farmers, a small business owner, health care workers, one self-employed and one unemployed individual, amongst others, joined the conversation.
There was a strong fear collectively from the group about the possibility of a health disaster ruining their financial well-being. There was also a shared concern about the widening gap between the rich and the poor in our country.
Part of the conversation was dedicated to the pooling of small businesses and those who are uninsured to lower premiums and get more people health insurance. The small business owner in the crowd said that she had looked into that but rates were not terribly attractive. Another participant suggested the pooling could be expanded to unions and trade associations that organize small business and groups to make pools larger and reduce costs. Most agreed that is was not right for large corporations to have access to cheaper health care that small business cannot.
One gentleman concluded that the candidate (for President) who will be elected, is the one with the plan for all of society.
Mason City, Iowa
A large group, including one State Senator and one State Representative and many other active community members gathered in Mason City to discuss financial security and health care issues.
There was a great deal of agreement from the group about health care being a right, but a right that should be earned by active participation in society, for those who are able. The group was also very disgruntled about the rising cost of prescription drugs and the need for the government to step in and negotiate with this industry.
Strong agreement was also shown for the importance of Social Security. A couple solutions were discussed about how to make the system solvent for future generations. These solutions included lifting the age to 67 or 68 for when people draw Social Security, raising the cap and not paying out to billionaires.
The group agreed on the importance of teaching financial literacy, one woman noted that the government needs to be setting a better example by not going into trillions of dollars of debt.
Charles City, Iowa
Participants at the Charles City conversation had interesting stories to share about their experiences with health care and financial security.
One member and his wife had to declare bankruptcy because of egregious medical bills that totaled nearly a million dollars. They asked why they were required to pay such amounts when citizens within other countries had little, if any, out of pocket expenses for similar conditions.
The group reached common ground that the health care and financial security situation in the U.S. right now is dismal, and many were concerned that their children and grandchildren won’t have a Social Security pool to draw from when they get older. A few participants were college age students who also expressed belief that they won’t have access to Social Security when they reach retirement age.
Cedar Falls, Iowa
A group demanding action on these issues joined together for conversation in Cedar Falls. Participants all agreed that whoever is elected needs to work in a bipartisan fashion and listen to the voices of real people when creating policy on long-term financial security and health care.
Some participants in the group characterized the current health care system as a shared system, but they felt businesses have not kept up their end of the bargain, leaving individuals unable to keep up with the pace of the rising cost of health care.
There were a couple of participants in the group who talked about how some farmers have to calculate the sale of their farm with how much money they think they will need to pay for their end-of-life care.
Should end-of-life health care costs be the determinant for when a farmer should sell their farm?
Oelwein, Iowa
An engaged group participated in an afternoon conversation at the Oelwein Community Center.
There was strong agreement about the importance of the need for basic health care coverage for all Americans. There was also an emphasis on the importance of financial literacy in the schools and from parents beginning at a young age.
One nursing home administrator participant discussed how her non-profit nursing facility had recently gone bankrupt. She pointed to the cost of providing health insurance and a matching pension plan for her employees as the major factor for the financial ruin of her institution. Could this happen to other nursing facilities in small-town Iowa? What would happen to seniors that need the services that these facilities provide? What if they cannot find employees because they are not offering health insurance?
Decorah, Iowa
Concerned citizens gathered on the campus of Luther College in Decorah to discuss the issues of health care and financial security.
The group evaluated the three approaches and came to a consensus that the government should not only provide a safety net for all U.S. citizens, but also provide a plan to make healthcare affordable for all. They called for equal protection for fear that the middle class would disappear if such protections didn’t surface. They agreed that the plan should allow for all to have access and should let individuals make choices on which doctors they would go to. The group also believed strongly that government should provide a stronger safety net for financial security and improve the Social Security system to ensure that it will exist for future generations.
One participant argued that if the government were to implement a universal healthcare system, the burden and cost would be lifted from the businesses and individuals, which would allow them to have more to save and spend, and, thus stimulate business.
The group also discussed the question: Is it possible to have a socialized or universal healthcare system and still offer incentives to doctors to provide top medical care to patients?
