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The
Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa
Tuesday,
February 7, 2006 | |
S.H.I.I.P. helps with Medicare Drug Plan
by Latisha Sand |
With the New Year well under way and the May 15 deadline approaching for Medicare recipients to pick a new drug plan or change an existing drug plan, Senior Health Insurance Information Program (S.H.I.I.P.) volunteer Carol Brockmeyer wants to reduce confusion about recipients choosing the right plan for them.
“It’s important to get a plan that covers your pills,” said Brockmeyer. “Check the plan that you are in to make sure your drugs are included because if they aren’t, you will have to pay for them.”
The confusion started when reassignment letters were sent to the recipients. Some people didn’t get the letter while others simply threw them away. If a plan wasn’t picked by Dec. 31, 2005 people were randomly assigned to one of 100 private basic plans – one that probably didn’t cover their medications.
Most of the Medicare recipients that are having trouble are the duel eligible recipients.
“It’s something that’s new and they don’t know what to do,” said Brockmeyer. “People have a preconception that it’s going to be hard or confusing.”
But Brockmeyer said if you do a comparison of plans that cover your medications, the process could be simple.
Here’s how it can be done: go to www.medicare.gov and click on “Find a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.” Scroll down and do a “General Plan Search” and answer the questions. Then click on “Choose a Drug Plan Type” at the bottom of the page and then click “Search for Medicare Prescription Drug Plans” under option C. On the next page, click on “Enter my Medications” under option B and add your medications one at a time, making sure the spelling is correct. Select the drug and then click the “Add Drug” button. Add additional medications as needed and when done, click “Continue with Selected Drugs.” A set of questions will appear and then multiple plans will appear.
An option to compare up to three plans at once is also available.
If there is any confusion while comparing plans on-line, Brockmeyer said she would be happy to help.
“Pharmacists and Social Workers aren’t supposed to help you,” said Brockmeyer. “I encourage people to call (me). If they can do it themselves that’s great, but I’ll be happy to help.”
Brockmeyer said that there is some confusion around Delaware County but it’s not too bad.
“Just do the comparison on the plans,” said Brockmeyer. “It is nice that the government is letting them change.” And you can change the plan every year after that beginning Nov. 15 until Dec. 31 for the following year.
The cost of the plan is determined by how much each pill costs.
“You have to consider the cost of the plan, the pills, the deductible and how much money is coming in,” said Brockmeyer.
The plans range from $1.86 to $99.90 per month depending on the level of coverage.
If recipients wait until after the May 15 deadline, they will have to pay one percent per month more on average of the plan they pick.
According to Brockmeyer, the drug plans are not just for full Medicare or Medicaid participants, people on S.S.I., Q.M.B., S.L.M.B. and Expanded S.L.M.B. have some benefits within the drug plans as well. They can get a special price for generic and brand name drugs and the premium and deductible could be paid for.
Brockmeyer, who has been a volunteer since 2000, wants to remind people that S.H.I.I.P. also helps with medical claims and other issues.
For questions or more information contact Brockmeyer or her husband, Bob, at 927-5473 or at their home at 927-3958.
“In a couple of years after we get used to it (the Medicare Prescription Drug Plans), we will be okay,” said Brockmeyer. “We are just afraid of it at first.”
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1876 home part of tourism package in Strawberry Point
by Latisha Sand |
Two Strawberry Point ladies have recently started a unique tour and dining experience.
Bonnie, owner and Innkeeper of Aunt B’s Inn, and Sherry Hoefer treat between 10 to 12 people to a gourmet brunch, lunch or dinner at the Inn. A tour of Hoefer’s 1876 home, which is located about five miles south of Strawberry Point, follows the meal with Hoefer serving dessert in her turn-of-the-century style dining room.
“You can’t go to Waterloo and do this and everyone wants to see people’s houses,” said Hoefer. “You just don’t see houses like mine in the country. It should be a landmark.”
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Bonnie |
Hoefer always wanted to have tours in her 16 room home, but she didn’t know how to go about it. When she met Bonnie through a mutual friend they got the idea for “Dinner, Tour and Dessert.”
The whole event takes about three hours and both Bonnie and Hoefer said that it’s not just for ladies – guys can come too and hear different stories from Hoefer’s husband, Larry.
The Hoefer’s, who are the first un-related family of the original owner, Steven Hebron, bought the house in 1996 and finished restoring it in 2000.
“I didn’t live in the house for three months because it creeped me out,” said Hoefer. The house had to be sanded down and repainted and even the chimneys needed repaired. “The previous tenants couldn’t keep up with the repairs.”
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Sherry Hoefer, owner of a 1876 house, partnered up with Bonnie, owner of Aunt B’s Inn, to offer a “Dining, Tour and Dessert” experience. Sherry, below, offers a tour of her home and serves dessert in this dining room, which has the original black marble fireplace. (Above) The kitchen has a replica of an 1880’s stove. |
Now that the house is restored to look similar to what it did back then, the Hoefer’s wanted to show everyone all their hard work and antique collection.
“You may have seen some of the stuff they have in a magazine,” said Bonnie. “They did extraordinary remodel work.”
The tours are more of a wintertime event, said Bonnie but they wouldn’t turn down anyone who wanted to do the tour and dinner.
The one thing the people on the tours say is that the house feels like a home, not a museum or an antique store.
“We like groups that ask questions and make themselves at home,” said Bonnie. “They (the Hoefer’s) live in this house and it feels like a home.”
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The Hoefer’s have added an attached garage and they have turned the summer kitchen into their ‘comfortable room’ which has a full English Pub bar and a big screen television.
The house has 3,400 square feet, four bedrooms, including a bedroom for a maid and the original copper tub in the upstairs bathroom. It has seven fireplaces, six of which still have the original marble - the seventh one was put in by the Hoefer’s in their ‘comfortable room.’
“I’ve always dreamed of having an old house,” said Hoefer. “It’s my dream, but working on it was sometimes a nightmare.
“We did all the work ourselves,” she said. “All but the roof, the chimneys and the garage foundation.”
In a few years, Hoefer would like to add a conservatory off the front area.
If a person does want a tour, they contact Bonnie and she will tell you to round up 10 friends, family members and neighbors. The caller even gets to pick their meal. The cost of the “Dinner, Tour and Dessert” activity is $20 per person.
Bonnie, who’s Inn has four suites, also wants to start a crafters retreat where 16 ladies could stay the weekend for $60 per night. This includes three meals, a snack and a tour of the Hoefer home.
“I think it’s an exciting tourist package,” said Mary Jane Keppler, the Strawberry Point Tourism and Economic Development Fund Director. “Over 100 people have gone through the house.”
For more information about the Dinner, Tour and Dessert package or Aunt B’s Inn, contact Bonnie at 563-933-4485. |
Libraries seek funding
By Julie Sunne |
A Delaware County Library Association representative addressed the Delaware County Supervisors about the need for increased library funding at the January 30 board meeting. Several of the area county librarians were present.
The purpose of the presentation was to inform the board about the inadequacy of the current funding levels and the discrepancy between rural and municipal resident funding, maintaining that municipal residents are subsidizing rural services as well.
According to Association statistics, current county funding levels of $5.38 per capita are considerably lower than the Iowa county average of $12.04. The Association is asking Delaware County to increase its 2006/2007 funding to $52,926 or $6 per capita, and adopt a contract gradually increasing the funding by $2 per capita each fiscal year until a per capita rate of 75 percent of the total per capita funding by the Association members is reached.
County towns without libraries are being asked for the same funding increase as the county.
The Association stressed that without a continuous funding commitment libraries can’t plan for the future and they may have to deny services or impose additional fees on rural patrons.
Supervisor Shirley Helmrichs acknowledged the importance of the libraries, but pointed out that the Board needs to make the budget work. They agreed to take into account the Association’s request during budget planning.
The Supervisors passed a resolution to only give tax abatement for Enterprise Zone projects if tax increment financing (TIF) is not being used. This was a request by the Iowa Department of Economic Development.
A public hearing was also held to gather input on the construction permit application for a 5400 head swine confinement project by A & L Investments, LLC. Public comment was minimal. Scoring for the proposed facility needs to be returned to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources by February 10. The Board will decide on the point totals at the February 6 meeting so it can then be sent to the state. |
Private landowners make the difference
By Julie Sunne |
With more than 90 percent of Iowa privately owned, landowners hold the key to fulfilling the habitat needs of the state’s wildlife species. Conservation agencies at all levels, federal, state, and local, as well as nonprofit wildlife organizations, realize the importance of assisting landowners to this end.
In response to this need, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) created a biologist position specifically for contacting and advising landowners. These five private land biologists are knowledgeable about federal and state programs and familiar with local services. They often work in cooperation with Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation, as well as the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) in their area.
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JULIE SUNNE / Press
Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) on private land. |
Greg Schmitt is the private lands biologist out of the West Union NRCS office. A common call he receives is from the recreational landowner.
“Often they have CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) land and want to improve it,” he said.
Private lands biologists can address their basic habitat questions and refer them to others, such as forest or fisheries biologists for more specific information. These biologists assist landowners with the Tallgrass Prairie Restoration Grant, Pheasant and Quail Program, Prairie Partner Cost share Program, Shelterbelts, and the Landowner Incentive Program (LIP), among others.
The Tallgrass Prairie Restoration Grant is administered through the National Fish and Wildlife Federation and is for landowners that cannot utilize other programs to enhance their CRP or Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) land. It provides up to 75 percent cost share to establish native grasses and forbs.
The Pheasant and Quail Program provides 75 percent cost share to landowners to apply habitat management practices to create upland wildlife habitat demonstration farms on general CRP. These practices include food plots, strip disking, planting native grass and forbs, prescribed burning, edge feathering, and shrub planting.
Native legumes (partridge pea, tick trefoil, etc.), single species or mix native grasses, and forbs are cost shared at 50 percent to diversify the seeding of the federal programs through the Prairie Partner Cost Share Program.
The Shelterbelt program pays 75 percent cost share to establish an 8-row minimum shelterbelt on the north or west side of a farmstead or feedlot. This program can also be used to enlarge an existing shelterbelt.
There are some wildlife species that need extra protection and attention. The Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) provides 75 percent cost share to landowners within LIP priority areas to enhance, restore, and protect habitat for species-at-risk. Perpetual easements are available for specific priority areas with LIP planning committee approval. In our counties, priority areas include algific talus slopes and forest.
Other specific programs that private lands and other state biologists can advise and direct landowners on include the IDNR/Pheasants Forever Buffer Program and the USDA’s Farmable Wetland Program.
Schmitt can be reached by calling the West Union NRCS office at 563-422-6201. |
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E. Delaware - P.O. Box C - Manchester, Iowa 52057
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