U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson will join Sen. Chuck Grassley at a town meeting in Cedar Rapids on Thursday afternoon.
This hour-long public forum is scheduled to begin at one o'clock on Feb. 19, in Iowa Rooms A and B of Iowa Hall at Kirkwood Community College.
Grassley is holding meetings in eight Iowa communities this week to discuss the new Medicare prescription drug benefit legislation passed last fall. The public meetings will be in Des Moines, Ames, Oskaloosa, Sigourney, Washington, Columbus Junction, Davenport and Cedar Rapids. They mark the second set of Medicare town meetings held by Grassley this year. In January, he met with hundreds in Iowans in 14 communities across northern Iowa.
"These meetings are to help Iowans get a sense of the new program so they can begin to decide if they want to take advantage of the new options that will be available with the discount drug card this year and the full-blown program in 2006," Grassley said. "Iowans also need to know that they don't have to make any changes and can stay in the same Medicare they have today. All the new benefits will be completely voluntary."
The new Medicare program will offer Medicare beneficiaries access to the life-saving pharmaceuticals, preventive health care and disease management therapies of modern medicine.
As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Thompson has launched a major initiative to urge all Americans to prevent disease by focusing on critical health areas such as obesity and diabetes. His department includes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the Medicare program. Before joining the Bush administration, Thompson was elected to serve as governor of Wisconsin four times.
The Senate Finance Committee is responsible for Medicare legislation. As chairman, Grassley was the lead architect of the Medicare legislation in the Senate. "I worked to make sure the bill was bipartisan, to enable Medicare beneficiaries to stay in traditional Medicare, to design a drug benefit that was affordable, and to make Medicare more fair for hospitals and doctors in rural states like Iowa," he said.
Information follows about the time and place for all of Grassley's Medicare meetings this week.
Tuesday, Feb. 17
1:30-2:30 pm – State Historical Building Auditorium, 600 Locust Street, Des Moines
3:30-4:30 pm – Mary Greeley Medical, Bessie Myers Auditorium, 117 11th Street, Ames
Wednesday, Feb. 18
10:30-11:30 am – Mahaska Health Partnership, Education Center, 1229 C Avenue East, Oskaloosa
12:30-1:30 pm – Keokuk County Health Center, Cafeteria, 101 South Stuart Street, Sigourney
2:45-3:45 pm – Washington County Hospital, Robert Nicola Conference Room 400 East Polk Street, Washington
4:30-5:30 pm – American Legion Hall, 99 2nd Street, Columbus Junction
Thursday, Feb. 19
7:30-8:30 am – Genesis Medical Center–East, Adler Health Education Center, 1236 East Rusholme Street, Davenport
1-2 pm – Kirkwood Community College, Iowa Hall, Iowa Rooms A & B, 6301 Kirkwood Boulevard SW, Cedar Rapids