Senate Democrats are working to ensure Iowa’s health care safety net remains strong when the Branstad-Reynolds Medicaid privatization plan is rolled out April 1.
We can’t let privatization hurt the people Medicaid is supposed to help—and every one of us is just one accident or illness away from needing that help.
If your parent, spouse or child has a severe disability, chances are they’ll be on Medicaid. Most Medicaid dollars help our elderly and Iowans with disabilities. A bill to protect them (SF 2213) with tough oversight and accountability won bipartisan approval in the Senate, but was not taken up in the House.
We’re giving the House another chance to do right by vulnerable Iowans with a new bill from the Senate’s Government Oversight Committee. SF 2305 will safeguard the interests of Medicaid members, encourage participation of health care providers, and ensure tax dollars of hard-working Iowans are spent properly.
We also want to see investments in a better system—not just profits for the private out-of-state corporations running it—with a fund to finance improvements, a patient-centered approach to care, comprehensive reviews of the program and more.
These steps are necessary because the Branstad-Reynolds Administration rushed privatization of Iowa’s Medicaid program. Even after the federal government imposed two delays, many questions remain unanswered with only a few days to go.