From Kelsey Hollen and Carol Smith
Creston
Recently, many expressed concern about America’s standing in regards to our tax code and structure, we ask that you express the same concern for our health care system.
In 2016, Iowa moved to a privatized Medicaid model which was previously managed by the state. The justification for moving to this model was sold to Iowans under guise of savings and budget predictability.
Savings and budget predictability have not come from this model, and in fact, privatized managed care has created budget shortfalls causing the Governor to deplete our surplus and tap into our rainy day fund. Privatized managed care has also impacted our local service infrastructure like Connections Area Agency on Aging, Innovative Industries, Iowa Focus, Crossroads Behavioral Health and many more local organizations. Managed care has minimized independent advocacy for those receiving services, making it easier for services to be cut or denied to those who need it the most in order to try to create a profit.
As professionals working in the field, we fight daily to ensure basic medically needed services are being provided because cuts are still occurring for monetary reasons to try to create a profit for these private insurance companies now running the Medicaid show in this state.
We write this to serve as a reminder to those aware of our broken health care system, but also as a notice to those who are so fortunate to not be affected by the Medicaid crisis here in Iowa. Please talk to those in the field, and make sure you are voting for persons who are in support of reversing this privatized Medicaid mess in Iowa but also in support of keeping the parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that benefited millions of people, including many Iowans, unlike David Young who voted to repeal the ACA. Our current Governor has also followed suit, in supporting legislation that hurt Iowans. It’s time to do our part as citizens and look a little deeper into the issues and elect officials who support legislation that helps Iowans.