We need to support our local pharmacists.

Secondly, as people get older they need to be going to their local pharmacist.  The local pharmacist will be there to answer questions and offer advice on prescriptions and make sure the person understands how to take the prescriptions.  Getting a print out with advice is not the same.  Print outs can get confusing for people as they get older.

http://ww.iowacan.or…

Secondly, there is an interim legislative commission in Iowa that is looking at how the uninsured and others without health care should be included in health care services. Although, the language suggests that health insurance rather than health care might be the objective.  You, the public, can now participate.

There will be 3 public hearings: Council Bluffs on Sept. 4 and Indianola and Bettendorf later in September.  You may also comment and read responses to an open-ended survey on the Internet at the Iowa General Assembly's web site.

Here is a press release, copied from http://www.iowademocrats.org:

<p>
Legislative commission unanimously agrees to seek universal, affordable, accessible, sustainable health care system

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Mason City – Today the members of the bipartisan “Affordable Health Care Plans for Small Businesses & Families Commission,” agreed to a set of eight principles to guide their work.  The group of legislators, medical providers, small business and insurance representatives, and consumers agreed that Iowa's goal should be a health care system that is universal, affordable, accessible, and sustainable. 

“These principles will shape our deliberations as we work on a final product to present to the legislature,” said commission co-chair Senator Jack Hatch of Des Moines.

“Together, we are working to create a new, better, more cost-efficient way to provide health care to all Iowans, including the 250,000 Iowans not covered today,” said commission co-chair Representative Ro Foege of Mount Vernon.

The principles unanimously agreed to today at the commission's Mason City meeting are:

1:  Coverage and care should be universal or near universal. 

2:  Coverage should be affordable and take into account all health care costs.

3:  Everyone should have a medical home. 

4:  Health care should be accessible. 

5:  Financing should be a shared responsibility. 

6:  Reforms should drive quality improvements and contain costs.

7:  Reforms should do no harm. 

8:  Reforms must be sustainable and doable. 

Additional information about the commission can be found at the Iowa Legislature's web site, http://www.legis.state.ia.us.&nbsp; It is also possible at that web site for Iowans to offer their own suggestions for improvements and to read the suggestions made by other Iowans.

-end-
 

FYI–the longtime popular former Governor of the great state of Colorado–Roy Romer is head of ED '08.

Also, as a GLBT activist–I want to endorse what http://www.one-iowa.org is doing. Best to check out their web site. E-mail me with questions and I'll make sure it lands on the right desk. joan_of_the_mountains@yahoo.com

P.S. I know that is a kinda corny email address for someone living in Iowa–but after 20 years in Colorado–I came back to my birthplace. Politics is in thy blood my entire life–this is a very vital elections. I miss the cool, dry air but I can handle the downpours–it's the humidity that killing me.