Council Bluffs, Iowa
A lively conversation took place at the Senior Center in Council Bluffs on Thursday night. A diverse group gathered to talk through the health care and financial security challenges that they were facing.
A couple of interesting points and ideas were brought up during this conversation. Small business owners were frustrated with the financial burdens that health care and taxes were presenting for them. Specifically, one woman’s husband was frustrated because he has to pay Social Security taxes on his salary as well as his wife’s salary because she is an employee of the small business. These tax burdens have made it difficult for them afford their own health insurance.
Another attendee was a retired dentist who wanted to offer health insurance to his employees but was unable to afford it. He thought a way for practices like his to save money would be to alleviate the doctors of their reimbursement responsibilities to the insurance companies and have the patient take care of dealing with getting reimbursed directly with their insurance.
The group agreed that something needs to be done to fix Social Security and health care for future generations. They want to ask presidential candidates how they plan on making important changes to these systems to create positive change. They also want office holders to be more responsive to their constituents and work to bring the country back together.
Red Oak, Iowa
Many of the attendees at the Red Oak conversation currently work for or have worked for long-term care facilities in the area. The conversation was geared mainly around long- term care and the costs associated with it. A main concern was the nursing shortage in LTC facilities in rural communities, often due to the staff being overworked and underpaid. A nursing supervisor in attendance shared her concern that people enter the nursing profession and leave in a few short years because they spend the majority of their time on paperwork due to federal and state guidelines when they want to be doing hands on patient care. Another regular sentiment was the difficultly for staff to work full-time, pay child care and health care costs, much less save for retirement. It is a constant struggle in rural communities to make ends meet and save for the future.
Another recurring theme through the conversation was the difficulties seniors have understanding the system, be it Medicare, long-term care insurance, or their prescription drug program. One story shared about a 90-year old woman whose husband has been in a nursing home for 10 months and has not yet seen any reimbursements for what they have paid out of pocket. The staff works with her to help navigate the paperwork because she has a hard time understanding it by herself.
How can the federal government and insurance agencies assist seniors in receiving their reimbursements? Are there too many guidelines for long-term care facilities, creating an undue burden on the staff?
Perry, Iowa
The group that met at Perry High School on Wednesday evening was deeply concerned about access to affordable health care for those in need. The group had a strong belief that the government has to provide a safety net of health coverage like Medicaid and Medicare for those who cannot afford their own health care.
There were also concerns from the group about spousal rules surrounding Social Security. One woman’s husband had died when he was 50 and she was left having to put their son through college. Her husband had paid into Social Security, but she was unable to draw that money because he was also part of the U.S. Railroad Retirement plan and was only able to draw that pension.
Creston, Iowa
A group of educators, health care workers and retirees joined in on a conversation at Southwestern Community College in Creston. The focus of the conversation weighed heavily on education and prevention with regard to health care and financial security.
One woman announced that she wanted to SCREAM at young people not to depend on Social Security and to save their money. The group agreed that Social Security was not meant for people to live on, but remains as an important guarantee for retirees.
There were many ideas thrown around about how to emphasize financial education for Americans. Participants said that this education had to start at a young age and come from school and home. There were suggestions to replace unnecessary curriculum (which was up for debate) or extend the school hours to make time for financial education. One woman told us that she had opened a checking account for her daughter and gave it to her for her birthday. She hoped that this checking account would help her daughter learn about the value of money by extending real responsibilities to her to pay for her own clothes, entertainment and gas.
The group agreed the recent generations were not as focused on saving because they did not live through the Great Depression. This was illustrated when one man told the group he has to “beg and plead” for employees at his organization to pay into their 401K program, when only about one-in-five employees currently do.
Carroll, Iowa
Many interesting ideas and approaches for health care resulted from an evening meeting at DMACC in Carroll.
There were strong opinions about the need for individual responsibility with regard to health coverage from many of the attendees. One gentleman stated that he thought it was the major mistake when employers started paying for health insurance. He thought that people would be more efficient about how they used health care and doctors if they were responsible for their own coverage.
There was also one interesting story that was shared as a result of the “doughnut hole” in Medicare coverage. An attendee’s mother was subject to this temporary break in drug coverage and decided that she was not going to pay the full amount for her prescription drugs; she decided to make changes to her lifestyle and discontinued taking some of the expensive drugs. She began to regularly exercise and cut out excess sugars and fats in her diet. She ended up losing over 15 pounds and is doing well without the drugs. The attendee who shared this story acknowledged that this solution would not work for many people, but that preventative measures like having healthy diet and exercising could cut down on government money spent on health care across the board.
The group was in agreement about too much time and money being spent on paperwork in the health care industry. They thought that going to electronic record keeping would help to cut down the costs and amount of time wasted filling out papers. They thought that innovation and common sense approaches like these could increase efficiency and help cut costs.
Denison, Iowa
On Tuesday, we hosted an afternoon conversation at the Boulders Conference Center in Denison. The group that gathered showed a strong interest in education, quality health care and the importance of saving for the future.
One attendee, who recently graduated from college, expressed how difficult it is to save money while she is paying back loans, paying rent and gas prices are increasing. She also said that many college students and young adults right out of college get sucked into credit card debt because it is their only option for financing their needs. She thought that college students should probably not be targeted by the credit card companies because they end up amassing too much debt over those years that could take years to pay back. Others in the group agreed that credit card companies should be regulated in their soliciting, to help keep people out of debt.
Attendees agreed that more people need to be educated about saving for their future. The group thought that Social Security was an important part of the retirement equation, but savings and pensions are necessary too. One attendee reported that only 20 out of 50 people at her work place were part of the company’s 401K plan. She thought that people needed more education from their employer on the importance of saving.
How do you get a 25 year old to think about being a 65 year old?
