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.
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.
