DES MOINES, IA — The deadline to enroll in Marketplace health insurance coverage for 2023 is January 15th.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a record amount of grant funding to organizations that provide free help to consumers needing help enrolling in health coverage. In Iowa, First Choice Services was awarded $295,350 to continue and expand its IA Navigator program. The program provides free assistance to people finding and selecting healthcare options through the Marketplace, Medicaid, and CHIP.

So far, during the 10th Marketplace Open Enrollment, Iowa is seeing an increase in enrollment this year, with 6.56% more people enrolling than last year. Jeremy Smith, IA Navigator Director, says that the increased funding has helped the program expand and get the word out about the Marketplace. “The historic increase in funding for our program last year, and then again this year, has helped our program increase our enrollments from last year,” Smith says. “Our Navigators have been working hard to help get the word out to people about the benefits of the Marketplace, and we are excited to see how the rest of Open Enrollment goes!”

Even with the increase in enrollment numbers this year, many Iowans lack health insurance. IA Navigator is encouraging anyone who does not have health insurance to check into the Marketplace. “Most people will qualify for substantially lower costs this year if they get their insurance on the Marketplace,” said Jeremy Smith. “We are urging people to look at the new plans and prices released this year. In many cases, the plans are more affordable than we have ever seen. Even if you have looked into insurance on the Marketplace in past years and were not very happy, you should look into it again this year.” Smith says getting help signing up is essential, as many people are overwhelmed by the options or may not realize how to shop for affordable health coverage.

Consumers returning to the Health Insurance Marketplace this year can expect to see some critical updates and expansions. New rules will expand eligibility to those previously blocked from getting the coverage because they had an offer of insurance through an employer. This fix to the “Family Glitch” will expand eligibility to thousands of families. Additionally, the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act secured enhanced subsidies and locked in lower prices for Marketplace plans for three more years. It also ensured that higher-income earners could continue to enroll in subsidized coverage.

It is important that Iowans pay attention to Open Enrollment deadlines. The last day to enroll in 2023 is January 15th unless you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. To help as many people meet this deadline as possible, IA Navigator will be available by phone all week and on Saturday, January 14th, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. IA Navigator will also be available by phone on Sunday, January 15th, from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm. Free assistance from the IA Navigator program is available by calling 515-978-9570 or visiting www.ACANavigator.com.

By Matt Kelley (Radio Iowa)

State traffic safety officials are singling out five Iowa counties where crashes, injuries and deaths are the worst to focus efforts on changing driver behaviors and making roads safer.

Brett Tjepkes, chief of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, says the initiative is called the High Five Rural Traffic Safety Project and it’s now underway in Appanoose, Fremont, Humboldt, Keokuk and Mitchell counties.

Tjepkes says, “How we selected the High Five counties is, we looked at some of these underserved areas that have a higher incidence of drivers and passengers not wearing their seatbelts involved in crashes and not wearing their seatbelts, meaning, either seriously injured or killed.”

The High Five project involves a three-tier approach, including law enforcement, engineering, and education with the ultimate goal of building safer communities. In the engineering portion, experts from the Iowa DOT are teaming up with the Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University.

“They’ll meet with local engineers and look at some of these crash locations and try to find are there some low-cost engineering solutions that we might be able to implement that could reduce crashes in certain areas,” Tjepkes says. “Some of these examples may be just some better painting, markings that are on the roadway, or signage, or wider shoulders.”

The education portion of High Five targets drivers of all ages, but also tries to reinforce certain messages with teenagers, before they might form bad driving habits. “We partner with an organization called Seatbelts Are For Everyone, or SAFE,” Tjepkes says. “The SAFE program works with local school districts to have some peer-to-peer type of education opportunities, the importance of wearing seatbelts and other traffic safety topics with high school-age kids.”

A recent study found nearly three-quarters of all deadly crashes in Iowa take place on secondary rural roads, and most of Iowa’s roads are considered secondary. Tjepkes says Iowans have a great national score for seatbelt use, but some people continue to ignore the law.

“Almost 96% of Iowans wear their seatbelts, but also 45% of the people killed in crashes are not wearing their seatbelts,” Tjepkes says. “So this one thing is, with what we’re doing, we really feel that we can make an impact and save people’s lives by encouraging them to wear their seatbelts through programs like the High Five.”

Preliminary numbers show 338 people died in traffic accidents on Iowa’s roads in 2022, a number that’s down from the past few years. Iowa hasn’t had fewer than 300 traffic deaths in a year since 1925.

SAN JUAN, P.R. — Yesterday, at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced several major developments at the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will benefit farmers, ranchers and producers across the nation. 

“At USDA, our goal is to provide all farmers, including new and underserved producers, with the opportunity to receive the assistance they need to continue farming, to build and maintain their competitive-edge, and to access more, new, and better markets,” said Vilsack, who spoke at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention today. “Working together we can ensure American agriculture is as resilient as ever and will do so by implementing a holistic approach to emergency assistance, by lowering input costs through investments in domestic fertilizer production, and by promoting competition in agricultural markets.” 

Secretary Vilsack announced that USDA continues to make progress in the following areas by:

• Assisting producers facing high input costs to access domestic, innovative fertilizer capacity.   
• Improving risk protection for underserved producers.  
• Investing in new choices and meat processing capacity for livestock producers.  
• Providing relief for producers impacted by disaster and the pandemic.

USDA Moving Forward with Fertilizer Production Expansion Program; Publishes Comments on Importance of Increased Competition

USDA will soon begin accepting public comments on environmental and related aspects of 21 potentially viable projects to increase fertilizer production across the United States totaling up to $88 million. These applicants have requested grant funding through the first round of the Department’s newly established Fertilizer Production Expansion Program.  This program is one of many ways the Biden-Harris Administration invests in the agricultural supply chain right here at home. Investing in projects to increase fertilizer production will bring production and jobs back to the United States, promote competition and support American goods and services. Under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, USDA continues to create a competitive, resilient, secure and sustainable economy to support opportunities for local businesses and people across this nation. The Fertilizer Production Expansion Program is a critical part of that effort.

The Department is considering fertilizer production projects in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. In response to prior feedback requesting more time for public comment on the environmental and related impact of USDA-funded projects, USDA is seeking comments from the public on the following questions and projects pertaining to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA).  The 30-day public comment period will close February 8, 2023. Additional information is available at www.rd.usda.gov/fpep-environmental-review-comments.

The Fertilizer Production Expansion Program is part of a whole-of-government effort to promote competition in agricultural markets.  USDA has also released a summary of the comments received through a Request For Information on Access to Fertilizer: Competition and Supply Chain Concerns, which highlights the variety of concerns about the limited competition and dependence of foreign sources for significant amounts of fertilizer.

Improving Risk Protection for Beginning, Veteran, Limited Resource and Minority Producers

The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provides financial assistance to producers of non-insurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory or prevented planting occur due to natural disasters.  There is a Congressionally mandated fee waiver for basic coverage for underserved producers. However, a previous set of procedures and regulations created a paperwork burden that stood in the way of many producers taking advantage of the basic coverage option.  The recent rule removes barriers and establishes procedures through which an underserved producer with a CCC-860, Socially Disadvantaged, Limited Resource, Beginning and Veteran Farmer or Rancher Certification, on file prior to the applicable NAP application closing date will automatically receive basic coverage for any NAP-eligible crops they plant. Underserved producers on file for 2022 will also receive retroactive basic coverage.  Like all other covered producers, underserved producers will still need to file a notice of loss and apply for benefits.

In addition to the basic catastrophic level coverage under NAP, producers can buy-up higher levels of coverage by paying a premium.  Underserved producers receive a 50 percent discount on any premiums.  Producers who are interested in obtaining NAP coverage for 2023 should also contact their local FSA county office for information on eligibility, coverage options and applying for coverage.  FSA also plans to target outreach to previous producers of NAP-eligible crops to ensure these producers are aware of their options.  For more information, reference our NAP Fact Sheet.

New Programs to fill gaps in 2020/2021 Natural Disaster Assistance (Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase 2) and 2020 Pandemic Assistance (Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program (PARP).    

USDA is announcing two new programs that wrap-up and fill remaining gaps in previous natural disaster and pandemic assistance.  To be eligible for ERP Phase Two, producers must have suffered a decrease in allowable gross revenue in 2020 or 2021 due to necessary expenses related to losses of eligible crops from a qualifying natural disaster event. Assistance will be primarily to producers of crops that were not covered by Federal Crop Insurance or NAP, since crops covered by Federal Crop Insurance and NAP were included in the assistance under ERP Phase One.  

To be eligible for PARP, an agricultural producer must have been in the business of farming during at least part of the 2020 calendar year and had a 15% or greater decrease in allowable gross revenue for the 2020 calendar year, as compared to a baseline year. 

The ERP Phase 2 and PARP application period is open from January 23, 2023 through June 2, 2023. For more information, producers should contact their local USDA service center or reference the ERP Phase Two Fact Sheet, PARP Fact Sheet or the ERP Phase Two-PARP Comparison Fact Sheet.    

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit usda.gov.