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Latham: health care reform needed, but he opposes "public option"

August 18, 2009 By

Congressman Tom Latham at health care meeting in Indianola. Congressman Tom Latham, a Republican from Ames, says there is a need for health care reform, but he’s opposed to creating a government-run plan to compete with private insurance.

"There are too many people today that don’t have access to affordable health insurance, affordable health care," Latham says.

 "The system in Iowa when you look at Medicare, the reimbursement issues that have hurt us so much, that caused a lot of doctors not to practice in Iowa to go to higher reimbursement areas of the country — those issues are very, very real."

But Latham says the three health care reform bills that have passed committees in the Democratically-controlled U.S. House are not the answer.

"There is a large concern about what is the government’s role, are these things that we can do on a free-market basis that will actually solve the problem without having the government intervene and take over that one-sixth of our economy?" Latham asks.

According to Latham, it’s time to take a "step back" and find a "bipartisan solution." One alternative to a government-run health care plan that seems to be emerging is health care "coops," but Latham says he doesn’t yet know enough about the details to say whether he’d support or oppose coops.

"I don’t think anybody knows what it is yet," Latham says. "…Are they truly independent? Are they truly member-owned? Our perception of what a coop is obviously has to do with the farmers coop elevators and the rural electrics, things like that…It’s all a matter of how it’s billed."

However, Latham says at "first blush" he’s inclined to say he would oppose health care coops because coop architects say coops would need a government investment to get started.

"Now, if in fact it is truly independent, if any funds that were lent to it had to be repaid…you could maybe justify start-up costs, but there would have to be…an iron-clad agreement that they would pay that money back," Latham says. "And they may need money to (pay) initial claims until the revenue’s generated." Those revenues would come from premium payments of coop members.

Latham made his comments earlier this afternoon to a crowd of over a hundred who showed up for Latham’s "town hall" meeting in Indianola.  Click on the audio link below to listen to the entire event.

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AUDIO: Indianola town hall…71 min MP3

Filed Under: Business, Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Manure spill reported in Lyon County

August 18, 2009 By

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a major manure spill in northwest Iowa’s Lyon County. Ken Hessenius of the D.N.R.’s Spencer field office says it’s estimated some 100,000 gallons of manure came from the Rock Bottom Dairy.

He says the spill was about three miles northwest of Lester in Lyon County, where a manure transfer line coupling came loose as manure was being pumped. Hessenius says the manure flowed into a road ditch, to an undground tile, and into a stream that’s a tributary of Mud Creek which flows into the Rock River. He says there were some fish killed in the stream.

Hessenius says an actual fish count has not been done, but initial reports were that hundreds of minnows and chubs were dead. Hessenius says the dairy owner, Bernie Baker, will face some costs for the spill. Hessenius says they will typically look at the amount of fish killed and each fish has a value depending on the species, and there may be additional costs based on the circumstances and response to the spill.

Hessenius says Baker did take steps to plug the tile line and dammed up the dairy yard and creek to stop the manure flow downstream.  

Filed Under: Agriculture, Environment & Conservation, Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:

Rain and thunderstorms could return Wednesday

August 18, 2009 By

Thunderstorms producing heavy rain and hail are possible across much of Iowa Wednesday. National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Zogg expects two rounds of precipitation with the first batch coming in the morning.

"And then as a cold front sweeps through the state later on in the day and into the evening, there will be additional chances for thunderstorms," Zogg said. "It looks like the best chance of severe weather would be with that second batch in the afternoon and evening."

High temperatures on Wednesday will be in the mid 70s north to the lower 80s south. Zogg says the storms could cause some damage. Southern Iowa faces the biggest threat of severe weather.

"The greatest risk of severe weather would actually be south of Iowa, however, if the storms do develop…wind and hail would be the primary threats from that severe weather," Zogg said. Partly cloudy and cooler conditions are forecast for the remainder of the week, with highs in the 70s Thursday and Friday. 

Filed Under: Weather

Treynor part of pilot program for financial literacy

August 18, 2009 By

Students attending school in the southwest Iowa town of Treynor will learn more about financial responsibility as part of a pilot program that could have statewide potential. John Jacobsen, spokesman for the Treynor State Bank Foundation, says the quarter-million dollar gift to launch the program is a well-spent investment.

Jacobsen says, “It’s part of our responsibility to arm consumers with the facts because the more educated they become, the better decisions they can make, and the earlier they learn it, the better.” The program focuses on financial literacy and Jacobsen says if it’s successful in Treynor, it could go region-wide.

“They have a long-term vision of this program reaching far beyond state lines,” he says. “It could be a pilot project that the Department of Education will be monitoring.” Jacobsen says the goal is to build a more financially-savvy future generation through focusing on several key issues.

They include: economic forecasting, financial education, economic development, economic and monetary policy influence, financial services and support for charitable organizations. The program is slated to run five years and will be incorporated into this year’s schedule.

He says, “The state of Iowa is in the process of developing the Iowa Core Curriculum which includes incorporating financial literacy as a subset of 21st century living skills.” Treynor is in Pottawattamie County, just east of Council Bluffs. 

Filed Under: Education

Woman missing a week found in river raft

August 18, 2009 By

An eastern Iowa woman is recovering in a Cedar Rapids hospital after surviving five days, trapped on a small raft on the Wapsipinicon River. A man who lives along the river spotted 63-year-old Jeanne Schnepp of Hale waving her arm from the raft Monday afternoon.

Schnepp went missing last Wednesday during a fishing trip. Her son, Cory Schnepp, says he had been searching for his mother and likely drove past her moments before she was found. "About 10 minutes after I pulled the boat up out of the water, we got a phone call saying that they had found her about a mile down the river," Cory said.

Larry Williams, who lives in a cabin on the river, was planning to go fishing when he spotted the woman on the raft.

Cory says his mother put the raft in the water, but the current was stronger than she thought and the raft ended up caught in some brush – out of view from search boats on the river. "She could hear the boats going by and she tried yelling and waving, but she was down in such a big hole that nobody could see her from the water," Cory said.

Jeanne survived five days with just two cans of pop and a bottle of water. Her son says, other than a severe sunburn and dehydration, his mother is doing well. Cory says he was hoping for this outcome, but was prepared for something much worse after Jones County Sheriff’s deputies found her truck and personal belongings last week, but not his mother.

Jeanne Schnepp could be released from the hospital this week.

 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Another crop duster crash lands

August 18, 2009 By

A crop-duster in northern Iowa got much closer to the crops than planned this morning.

Kossuth County Sheriff Steve Kollasch says Dennis Meyer of rural Whittemore was attempting to take off with his spray plane from their family-owned runway when his plane suddenly lost altitude, causing it to hit the runway, bounce over county blacktop B44 south of Whittemore and land in a bean field.

Sheriff Kollasch says fortunately, Meyer walked away from the crash uninjured. The incident is currently under investigation by the FAA.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:

Boswell defends "end of life" counseling coverage

August 18, 2009 By

Congressman Leonard Boswell is defending the idea of government coverage of "end of life" counseling that’s included in a House health care reform bill.

The proposal has drawn fire, with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley saying it could lead to "pulling the plug on grandma." Boswell, a Democrat from Des Moines, says that rhetoric has sparked unfounded "fear" among seniors.

"I can’t imagine doing that, putting a fear into them that their going cause them to make a decision to end their life. It just makes me feel very, very bad," Bosewll says. "And I think when it’s clear that it’s a choice and a respected place like Mayo says if you sit down and have this consultation you have better quality (care) and it costs less even — that’s not necessarily the reason for it — let that individual make a decision when they can. And who of us wouldn’t want to do that?"

Boswell has said he’s not sure, yet, whether he’ll support a health care reform package, but Boswell is expressing support for this provision that would offer Medicare coverage for consultations about end of life care.

"The basic message of it is if a physician sits down and spends that time with somebody that elects to do it, they get paid for it. It’s like an office call," Boswell says. "That seems reasonable to me."

Boswell recently was asked about this issue during a "town hall meeting" in Sigourney, and he cited Mayo Clinic studies.

"The end of life (treatment) is very expensive — nobody likes to talk about it, you know — but it’s very expensive and they have discovered through counseling and so on, that they can cut that almost in half," Boswell said, as people in the crowd started heckling him. "No, the cost, the cost. Let’s be respectful just for a minute. We’re talking about something that is very serious in our lives with our loved ones and, at some point, with us."

Boswell, who is 75 years old, told the crowd he personally encountered the issue during a recent health scare.

"I had a very serious surgery. I don’t know if you every noticed, I was a little ill a couple of years ago and my wife and daughters were told, into a lengthy surgery, that if the doctor had to make a decision, he’d come out to them to make it," Boswell said. "You know what, they’d had a conversation with me. They said, ‘Dad, you make those decisions. We don’t want to make them for you,’ and I got to thinking about it. I’d kind of like to make those decisions, too."

Boswell had a non-cancerous tumor removed from his stomach in 2005 and a long period of recuperation followed. Last summer, he had another surgery which his staff said was "corrective" and related to that 2005 operation.

 

Filed Under: Business, Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , , ,
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