(Radio Iowa) – The 50-thousand Iowans who are enrolled in the Affordable Care Act health insurance have until December 15th to make changes to their current policies — with the same deadline for new participants. The open enrollment period started on November 1st and takes effect on January 1st. Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen says prices rose quite a bit since the A-C-A was first rolled out in 2014. “The prices got higher and higher every year until it drove about 25,000 people out of the market,” Ommen says. “But since that time, since most of the folks who are still in the ACA market receive some benefit associated with a tax credit system, that market has now remained relatively stable.”

Ommen says he does not believe the COVID-19 pandemic will have much impact on ACA enrollment because the cost of policies is the main factor people use to make decisions. “But if people have been experiencing unemployment, they would actually qualify for Medicaid,” he says, “so this market is probably less related to the changes that might have been occurring due to the pandemic.” Premiums for Iowa non-smokers will average about 530 dollars a month next year, which is down as much as 100 dollars from this year. Ommen says Iowa enrollees in the ACA plans are mostly in one demographic group.  “For people over 65, they’re going to be in the Medicare system, but for folks that are under 65, we have a greater-than-normal participation by people that are middle-aged,” Ommen says. “That is related to the way the pricing structure works and it does drive higher costs.”

That’s one of his main criticisms of the current system, as he says changes are needed in how subsidies and tax credits are calculated for participants. “They’re currently income-only and that does not recognize that younger populations, younger families, have lower risk,” he says, “and so that’s how we ended up with more middle-aged folks in it than is going to be appropriate in order to have an effective, actuarially-based insurance pool.”

Ommen strongly advises people interested in enrolling to start now, go online and shop for a plan, don’t wait until the last minute. He says the Iowa Insurance Division website has a lot of information and help finding local insurance agents who can answer questions. For 2021, Medica and Wellmark will offer ACA-compliant health insurance plans in all 99 counties, while a third company, Oscar, will only offer plans in 24 counties.

A little after 2-a.m. today (Tuesday), Atlantic Fire was dispatched to a possible fire at Duke Aerial, Inc., at Highway 71 and Boston Road. According to Firefighter John Johnson, a propane leak on a line leading to a pre-heat mixer was leaking at a fitting, creaking a sort of “blow torch” effect. No structures were nearby, and no injuries were reported. The owner was notified and the valve was shut-off until repairs could be made.

Crews were on the scene for about 20-minutes.

Cumberland-Massena Rescue crews were dispatched to a two-vehicle collision at the intersection of  Highways 92 & 148 (750th & Richland Road), this morning. The call went out at around 6:37-a.m.  The vehicles are blocking the road at the intersection. Three subjects were in the vehicles altogether. According to law enforcement, two subjects were been injured and transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital by Massena and Cumberland Fire/EMS.

Photo submitted to KJAN News

The Iowa State Patrol is handling the accident investigation. No other details are currently available.

Iowa’s Coronavirus dashboard today (Tuesday), indicates the are 1,906 new, Positive cases of COVID-19, and 24 additional deaths. The total number of Positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic, amount to 230,902. Deaths total 2,427. The IDPH says one more death was reported in Harrison County, for a total of 30. Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities report 1,069 deaths, and deaths attributed in-part to preexisting conditions number 1,335.

Hospitalizations are beginning to creep back up, after six consecutive days of decline. The data show 1,172 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, 10 more than Monday. Health officials say 235 COVID patients are in an ICU, 129 were admitted, and 144 patients are on a ventilator. Hospitals in southwest/western Iowa (RMCC Region 4) report: 64 hospitalized;  20 are in an ICU (4 more than Monday); four were admitted (Compared to 9 Monday), and nine COVID patients are on a ventilator (There were 8 yesterday).

Long-Term Care facility outbreaks are up from a record 156 Monday to a new record of 162 today. The IDPH says 4,898 patients/staff have tested positive; 2,195 have tested negative. Area LTC data show: 214 positive cases and 132 recoveries at the three facilities in Cass County; 126 positive and 29 recovered in Shelby County (2 facilities); 139 positive and 120 recovered in Harrison County (1 facility); and 234 positive cases along with 79 recoveries at three LTC’s in Pottawattamie County.

Iowans who have recovered from the virus number 137,431, while 1,215,675 have been tested, to-date. There were 4,613 lab results returned yesterday, with 3,432 negative results and 1,171 positive. The individual positivity rate is 19.0%, and the 14-day rolling average is 17.1%. Cass County’s positivity rate is 18.4%. A total of 982, 620 negative results have been returned since the pandemic began. The IDPH says 137,433 Iowans have recovered from the virus.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases in each county, along with the 24-hour change in case numbers {+#}; the number of persons recovered, and the total number of [deaths] (if any), since the pandemic began,

• Cass, 820 cases {+4}; 515 recovered; 23 deaths
• Adair, 442 {+1}; 248; 8
• Adams, 171 {+1}; 90; 2
• Audubon, 300 {+4}; 211; 2
• Guthrie, 764 {+10); 455; 15
• Harrison County, 1,087 {+10}; 748; 30
• Madison County, 695 {+9}; 414; 4
• Mills County, 1,064 {+11}; 522; 7
• Montgomery, 483 {+20}; 231; 11
• Pottawattamie County, 6,445 {+126]; 3,704; 70
• Shelby County, 773 {+8}; 458; 11
• Union County,  782 {+10}; 311; 6

A traffic stop early Tuesday (this) morning at Highway 34 and Eastern Avenue in Red Oak, resulted in the arrest of a man from Shenandoah. Red Oak Police say 59-year old David Wayne Taylor was taken into custody at around 12:30-a.m., for Driving While Barred. Taylor was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

A judge, Monday, set both the pretrial conference and jury trial dates for an Atlantic man who was arrested November 4th on Adair County Class-D felony warrants for Willful Injury causing bodily injury, and Going Armed with Intent. The dates for 53-year-old Rex Dean McDermott were set during his arraignment hearing.

Online court records show the pretrial conference will take place Feb. 5th at 9:30-a.m., and a jury trial was set for March 9th, also at 9:30-a.m. A criminal complaint against McDermott alleges that at around 11-p.m. on Oct. 30th, he pulled a woman out of a pickup truck near Fontanelle, punched her and then struck her with an unknown wooden object. The victim suffered a laceration above her right eye, bruising and swelling of the face and other areas of pain.

McDermott remains free on a $25,000 surety bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials have certified a Republican candidate as a six-vote winner for an open seat in the U.S. House, in what is shaping up to be the closest congressional election in decades. Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks finished ahead of Democrat Rita Hart in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District after a recount saw her 47-vote lead steadily dwindle to single digits. The state Board of Canvass voted Monday afternoon to certify Miller-Meeks as the winner over Hart by a final count of 196,964 to 196,958. The board also certified President Donald Trump as the winner of the state’s six electoral votes.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa coronavirus deaths continued to increase in the past two weeks as the state ends November posting 687 deaths. That’s a 34% increase from the 512 deaths reported in October. Iowa reported 28 additional deaths on Monday, pushing the state total to 2,403. There were 1,200 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours. Hospitalizations continued to fall but some health care officials are expressing concern that they may rise again if Thanksgiving gatherings caused additional virus spread as expected.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the longest-serving Republican senator and third in the line of presidential succession, is back in the Senate on Monday after testing positive for coronavirus two weeks ago. Grassley, 87, isolated after finding out he had been exposed to the virus and tested positive shortly after that. He said in a statement that he never had any symptoms and had been cleared to return to the office by his doctors. He says the disease affects people differently. He added, “More than a thousand Americans are dying every day and many more are hospitalized. That means we all have to do our part to help protect our friends, family and fellow Americans.”