Medicaid Managed Care Begins Today- Real Lives Affected
After months of delays and confusion, the transition to Medicaid privatization starts today, Friday, April 1st and health care for 560,000 Iowans will change. There are many signs that it’s going to be a rough and difficult transition. Just this week, we heard of a family in Northeast Iowa that had chemotherapy treatment delayed at the Mayo Clinic because of confusion about coverage brought about in the Governor’s rushed plan to privatize Medicaid.
The same day we learned about this story, Iowa House Republicans refused to take action to clean up this Medicaid privatization mess. Democrats offered a plan that would force the state to set up a Medicaid contract with the Mayo Clinic, but House Republicans refused to even bring the idea up for debate. We offered other plans to stop privatization and to just provide more oversight, but these actions were all turned back by party-line Republican votes.
I believe the legislature has an obligation to provide strong and effective oversight of the Medicaid system – to make certain that no Iowans are denied the health care services they deserve and that our Iowa care providers are not unfairly squeezed out of the health care system.
Despite all the problems and delays, the Governor’s plan to privatize Medicaid begins today, April 1, 2016. The change was originally planned for January 1, 2016, but the federal government delayed the proposal two separate times due to the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) not being sufficiently prepared.
For months, many Medicaid members and providers have complained about the mismanagement of the transition process, including poor communication with DHS and the private managed care organizations taking over Medicaid. In addition, not all providers have signed agreements with the private managed care organizations. As a result, members are fearful that they will not be able to see their established providers and will lose services as a result.
As the change moves forward, there may still be issues with coverage of services and reimbursements for provided services. To obtain help with these issues and questions, members and providers should contact the following:
For Iowa Medicaid Member – IME Member Services
Phone: 1-800-338-8366 (toll free) or 515-256-4606
Website: www.IAHealthLink.gov
Email: IMEMemberServices@dhs.state.ia.us
For Iowa Medicaid Providers – IME Provider Services
Phone: 1-800-338-7909 (toll free) or 515-256-4609
Email: IMEProviderServices@dhs.state.ia.us
Provider Managed Care Organization Contacts: https://dhs.iowa.gov/ime/providers/MCO-contact-info
Managed Care Organizations
Amerigroup Iowa, Inc.
Phone: 1-800-600-4441
Web: www.myamerigroup.com/IA/
AmeriHealth Caritas
Phone: 1-855-332-2440
Web: www.amerihealthcaritasia.com
UnitedHealthcare Plan of the River Valley
Phone: 1-800-464-9484
Web: www.UHCCommunityPlan.com/ia/
More Opportunities and Jobs in Renewable Energy
Although Iowa is already a world leader in renewable energy and biofuels, we are encouraging new investments in Iowa that will add additional value to the byproducts created when making these biofuels.
Industrial facilities in Iowa that produce food and fuel products from corn, soybeans, and other renewables also produce byproducts that can be refined into higher value “building block” chemicals – chemicals that can then be processed into plastics, paints, textiles and pharmaceuticals. Currently, these leftover biomass byproducts are being underutilized.
With the new investments, Iowa will become one of the few states in the nation to incentivize the refining and processing of renewable chemicals from already existing byproducts.
It is estimated that in just 10 years, 25 existing companies will produce eligible renewable chemicals totaling 1.25 billion pounds and that six additional new companies will produce 600 million pounds in eligible chemicals for new products.
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At the Linn County Education Legislative meeting last Friday (shown here with Senator Liz Mathis, Cedar Rapids School District Superintendent Dr. Brad Buck, and College Community Board member Randy Bauer.) As you might have guessed, conversation centered around the legislature’s recent passage of 2.25% Supplemental State Aid to local schools. We learned more details about the negative impacts on Linn County school districts due to the 6th year of inadequate funding. Other topics included the third-grade retention and summer reading programs, Smarter Balanced assessments and the need for technology support, increased costs of private health insurance for teachers, the SAVE fund, water quality and the impact of families in poverty on student achievement. This was a very important discussion to help legislators grasp the impact of their decisions at the statehouse.
Susan and I went for a walk in Des Moines last week and noticed perhaps a dozen blankets with personal belongings tucked under one of the bridges. This is not an unusual discovery. Did you know that 13,030 Iowans were homeless last year? Almost 12,000 of these were homeless for the first time. Although there are many groups working to end homelessness, what more can be done?
I spoke with Waypoint Managing Director of Critical Services, Carrie Slagle, Director of Homeless and Housing Services, J’nae Peterman, and Home Forward Iowa Executive Director, Tim Wilson to learn more about what their services are achieving. It takes a holistic approach and an umbrella of services to successfully integrate homeless back into affordable homes, employment and personal stability.
Consider the following facts:
*Domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness among women.
*One out of five homeless suffers from untreated severe mental illness.
*Declining wages have put housing out of financial reach for many.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, homelessness results from a complex set of circumstances that require people to choose between food, shelter, and other basic needs. Only a concerted effort to ensure jobs that pay a living wage, adequate
support for those who cannot work, affordable housing, and access to health care will bring an end to homelessness.
I’m impressed with the efforts and dedication of staff at emergency shelters such as Waypoint and Home Forward Iowa,who continue to offer an array of services to help mitigate – and eventually end – homelessness in Iowa.
Everyone deserves a safe and secure place called “Home”. And I don’t mean a blanket under a bridge.
Kim Heidemann, Executive Director of Iowa Sister States, and Kassi Wheeler, International Program Manager, are doing a tremendous job connecting Iowa educators, businesses and entrepreneurs with representatives of our sister states. I also met with Li Xintong, Secretary Div of the Hebei People’s Assoc for Friendship with Foreign Countries (that’s a mouthful) and Joanna Jin, US Division at the Dept of American & Oceanian Affairs. International relationships, economic, educational and cultural exchanges, along with Iowa imports and exports, are areas rich with opportunities still untapped. I look forward to deeper and broader networking with the Sister States organization and representatives. Learn more here:http://www.iowasisterstates.org/
Cedar Rapidian Anna Fisher is looking forward to graduating from ISU in a few months with Nutritional Science and Global Resource Systems Majors, but she’s eager to continue her academic studies and earn a Masters in Public Health. I was most impressed with the research she conducted in India on aflatoxin contamination in groundnuts. Anna collected data in the Ayyavaripalli village through focus group discussion and a survey. She discovered that with economic motivation, farmers would often knowingly sell their contaminated peanuts to traders. Because of aflatoxin’s carcinogenic characteristics, this may have negative health ramifications for the larger part of India.
Anna was one of numerous students participating in the Iowa Regent Universities 11th Annual Research in the Capitol day, where legislators and passersby were able to interact with the researchers and learn more about their individual bodies of work. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about issues these students are interested in – everything from “Improving Food Quality Through Protein and Polysaccharide Interactions” to “Analyzing Climate Change in the Arctic by Examining Indices of Severe Weather from Contemporary Climates” to “Childhood Factors and Incarceration for African American Men”.
It is encouraging to know that many of the issues we are dealing with in the Iowa legislature – food safety, preservation of fossil fuels, hunger, incarceration disparities – are important to this next generation of leaders and researchers.
At the Iowa Health Care Association legislative reception, I had an opportunity to visit with some very caring individuals: Amanda Nobles, Holstein’s Good Samaritan Society Administrator, Amanda Nobles; Indianola’s Good Samaritan Society Administrator, Holly Turner; Pleasant View Care Center MDS Coordinator, Amy Riddle; and DHS PASRR Program Manager, Lila Starr.
These are some of the individuals on the front-line of the transition to privatization of Medicaid. We discussed some of their efforts in overcoming the challenges presented by the move to three separate MCOs, and all of the intricacies of getting their clients the care and services they need in the new system. My hat’s off to these hard-working health-care professionals who remain positive about the known and the unknown issues that they will soon be facing!
Iowa Medicaid moves to MCOs on Friday, April 1st.
On the way to the IHCA reception, I spoke with this group demonstrating in front of the Embassy Suites in Des Moines. Their issue was lack of adequate training in Iowa for direct care workers. This is an issue that I addressed in my bill HF106, at the beginning of the legislative session last year. Training for direct care workers was one of the key components of this bill. [The IHCA was actually registered “undecided”.] A companion bill, led by Senator Liz Mathis, passed the Senate 50-0. The House version did not move beyond sub-committee in the Republican-controlled House. In the next legislative Session, I will continue to address training and worker shortages in the direct care worker field. https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ba=HF+106&ga=86
Ellsworth Community College Provost, Martin Reimer, and constituent and Kirkwood Continuing Ed Program Director, Michelle Cherrier, spoke with me about Lifelong Learning initiatives. Our community colleges provide many opportunities for expanding one’s knowledge: high school equivalency programs, employment skills, on-line learning, certificate programs, business and professional development – even classes on The History of American Comic Books!
“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” ~ President Harry S Truman
Tom Hardecopf, of Linn County LIFTS, discussed public transportation issues with me this morning. LIFTS provides safe door-to-door transportation for eligible elderly and disabled citizens in the metro area of Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha.The Cedar Rapids City Council recently approved several much-needed new buses for the program, which should arrive within six months. (We have one of the oldest fleets in the country. Kudos to our maintenance department for keeping them safe and running!) Tom also spoke about federal grant guideline changes which will make more funds available to communities for bus transportation improvements. Great to learn of these positive developments for public transit in Cedar Rapids!
Cory Berkenes, Executive Director for Iowa Food Bank Association, and Tom Chapman, Executive Director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, discussed hunger in Iowa. 1 in 8 Iowans are food insecure, meaning they do not have enough to eat to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle and 1 in 5 Iowa children don’t have enough food to eat. Every year, I have sponsored a bill to help fund the Iowa food banks. As federal dollars decreases and the number of food-insecure Iowans increases, there remains a gap that must be filled. I continue to believe that partnerships with matching funds from private donors and the public can end hunger in this agricultural state. Learn how you can contribute or volunteer here:http://www.foodbankiowa.org/Home.aspx
Constituents David Ernst and John Tursi of the Boys and Girls Club in Cedar Rapids brought groups of friends with them to the Capitol. I had a fun time listening to mentors and mentees describe some of the activities and projects they enjoy together. David and John are asking the legislature to continue funding their successful after-school and community programs. BGCCR serves an average of 300 youth daily, 61% of them living in a household with an annual income of less than $25,000. If you would like to become a volunteer or donate to this great organization, more information here: http://www.bgccr.org/default.aspx
Monday was definitely a quieter start to the legislative week: 9 non-con bills on the debate calendar, and we may start to see department budget bills. Things are winding down as we near the end of the 86th Legislative Session. I’ll soon be door-knocking again in House District 66, asking constituents about their legislative priorities for next year. What are your top priorities?
Continue Reading the Statehouse News
Pharmacy Legislation Moves Forward
Special Education Change and Teacher Fee Increase Nullified
Supreme Court to Hear Case on Felon Voting Rights
Decorah Eagles Return to Nest
Deadline for Future Ready Summit is April 11th
Public Input Sought Regarding High-Need Schools
Iowa Energy Plan Forums Scheduled Across State
To read the rest of my Statehouse News go to:http://iowahouse.org/StatehouseNews/4-1-16
