From driving tractors to school to educating elementary students on the importance of feeding the world, FFA Week is underway nationwide. There are 18-thousand-06 Iowans involved in this program — including Hunter Hayes of Webster City who likes the interaction.

“Big opportunity to get involved with the community, and high school, get your name out there be able to help out with a lot of different organizations. FFA does help out with food drives and different stuff like that and it does actually help make a difference within the community,” Hayes says. Hayes says FFA has helped him broaden his abilities.

“You become a really close group of friends you spend a lot of time together you do some traveling you learn practical skills for the real world going out talking to people for some donations lining up different events you really learn a lot of skills that help you out moving forward with your life.”

Hayes says the group used to be called Future Farmers of America, but became FFA to make everyone feel welcome to the group.

“And that is to really broaden that spectrum. FFA doesn’t look to just say this is only for farmers and farmers’ children, we really want this to be a community organization and bring everyone in to be a part of it,” Hayes says. FFA is 95 years old. Find out more information or find a chapter in your area at: www.ffa.org.

By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

A state law is now effect to limit medical malpractice claims for non-economic or so-called “pain and suffering” damages. Governor Kim Reynolds was surrounded by a large crowd yesterday as she held a bill signing ceremony in her statehouse office.

“Because of our efforts and that includes everyone in this room — legislators and health care providers, lots of people pulling together to get this across the finish line — we’re in a much better position to recruit and retain physicians in our communities and really preserve access to care for rural Iowans,” she said.

The law took effect as soon as the governor signed it. There is no limit on coverage for medical expenses or economic losses caused by medical errors, but pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice cases are now capped at $2 million for hospitals and $1 million for all other health care providers. Starting in 2028, those caps will increase by an annual inflation factor of 2.1%.

“When mistakes happen, Iowans deserve compensation, but arbitrary multimillion dollar awards do more than that. They act as a tax on all Iowans by raising the cost of care,” Reynolds said, “They drive medical clinics out of business and medical students out of state.”

Former Governor Terry Branstad started pushing for medical malpractice caps more than a decade ago. Reynolds made it one of her priority issues for the 2023 Iowa Legislature. “Iowa finally joins the majority of U.S. states in enacting common sense medical malpractice reform by placing a reasonable cap on non-economic damages,” Reynolds said.

Kevin Kincaid, the CEO of Knoxville Hospitals and Clinics, said the law has been a priority for hospitals. “To recruit the best and brightest, to keep these providers in Iowa, we need to have a stable practice environment,” Kincaid said. “This bill is a crucial step forward in helping Iowa to be a more attractive place to practice medicine.”

All but one Democrat and 16 Republicans in the legislature voted against the law, arguing it was unfair to place a dollar value on when a person’s life is dramatically changed or ended due to a medical error. House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst said there’s no evidence the health care workforce issues Iowa faces are any better in states with medical malpractice caps. “Our frustration that is was a one size fits all approach,” Konfrst told reporters during her weekly news conference. “…Iowa patients are the true losers here.”

Konfrst said the caps benefit the insurance industry, with no guarantee medical malpractice insurance rates for doctors and hospitals will be controlled.