While federal leaders struggle to fix a financial system that appears to be coming apart at the seams, a few grim economic facts that may hit closer to home remain under the radar for the moment.
For instance, an estimated 46 million Americans have no health insurance.
And some 22 percent of American workers report having no savings of any kind.
Those statistics were collected by the AARP as it tries to prod people of all political affiliations to join forces against the problems besetting health care and financial security.
The effort, called Divided We Fail, was introduced in Fort Dodge at a Monday evening dinner attended by about 40 people at Bonanza in the Crossroads Mall.
Bruce Koeppl, the Iowa state director for AARP, called it the largest effort the group has launched.
He said it's designed to help break political gridlock and produce solutions.
Koeppl said Divided We Fail won't give money to candidates or political action committees. Instead, it will rely on volunteers, he said.
''What we have is people power,'' he said. ''What we have is you.''
Koeppl summarized some potential solutions Monday evening, but added that Divided We Fail won't endorse any plan.
''I thought he brought out a lot of points,'' Ray Harris, of Fort Dodge, said after the nearly two-hour session.
Harris believes part of the solution is to give retirees more money through Social Security. The cost of utilities, housing and gasoline take most of the monthly benefits, he said. And he's not interested in any suggestion that the government doesn't have the money to increase benefits. The way he sees things, any government that can contemplate a Wall Street bailout costing billions can come up with more money for its senior citizens.
''I think the people in the stock market are getting too much money in their pocket,'' Harris said.
Koeppl said these health care reform options are likely to be debated:
Requiring people to have health insurance.
Using the tax system to help move the country away from the current practice of having insurance linked to a person's job.
Expanding Medicare to cover more people.
Providing incentives for preventive care.
Rewarding efficiency on the part of medical providers.
Massachusetts has a state law requiring its citizens to have health insurance. Koeppl said such a plan has been debated in Iowa, but hasn't been enacted because there's a shortage of affordable insurance options.
Koeppl said the concept of rewarding medical providers for efficiency is usually linked with a plan for an electronic medical records system that would enable doctors anywhere to get a patient's data. That, he said, won't solve the problem, although it could reduce administrative costs.
Koeppl expects these possibilities to be debated in the quest to address financial security issues:
Creating savings accounts for each newborn.
Expanding tax incentives that help people save money.
Automatic enrollment in Individual Retirement Accounts for workers who don't have 401(k) plans.
Requiring schools to teach students about savings, loans, mortgages and other financial basics.
Savings accounts for babies is an inviting option, Koeppl said, but it's an expensive one.
A bill requiring schools to teach financial basics was set aside in this year's legislative session over concerns about fitting that into already crowded curriculums, he added.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net
