Last night I saw a truck with a light-up display of Mariannette Miller-Meeks as a green-faced Grinch. Who did that? –RB, Iowa City The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) did that. The DCCC — pronounced “D triple-C” by political types — announced in an email on Wednesday that it was “launching a new billboard campaign […]
Health Care
Posted inCommunity/News
A third lawsuit challenges Iowa’s new law to support small, rural pharmacies by regulating drug-cost middle-men
A third lawsuit has been filed against Iowa’s insurance commissioner over the legality of a new state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers, the third-party companies that act as intermediaries between insurance companies, drug manufacturers and pharmacies. A group of insurance companies argue SF 383, signed into law earlier this year, “upends the prescription-drug coverage that […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Republicans advance bill with a ban on Medicaid funding for all forms of gender-affirming care
On Wednesday, Iowa Senate Republicans advanced a bill with a provision that would cut off funding for medical treatments for people with gender dysphoria, despite testimony pointing to a medical consensus that stopping access to such treatments can increase the risk of suicide among transgender people. This is the first piece of anti-trans legislation Iowa […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Under a near-total abortion ban, crisis pregnancy centers peddling free, phony care are even more dangerous
Chances are, you’ve seen a crisis pregnancy center — also known as a CPC, anti-abortion center, pregnancy resource center or fake clinic — without realizing it. They market themselves as healthcare clinics for women facing unintended pregnancies while targeting women who are considering having an abortion. They make it seem as though they will walk […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa, 19 other states sue feds to block staffing mandates for nursing homes
The state of Iowa, where nursing homes have compiled one of the nation’s worst records for staffing-level violations, has joined 19 other states in suing the Biden administration to block the implementation of new staffing requirements. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, seeks to overturn the nursing home […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Complaints pile up as Iowa ranks 49th among states in nursing home inspectors
A federal report suggests Iowa has one of the nation’s worst ratios of nursing home inspectors to care facilities, and that the state’s use of private contractors to inspect homes is extraordinarily costly to taxpayers. The report, published earlier this year by the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, highlights some […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Mercy Iowa City bought in bankruptcy auction by Texas-based finance company
Preston Hollow Community Capital, the Texas-based specialty finance company that is Mercy Iowa City’s largest creditor, was the winning bidder in the bankruptcy auction of Mercy’s assets, which include the 234-bed Iowa City hospital, as well as the Mercy Family Medical Centers in Kalona, Tipton, West Liberty and Williamsburg. Mercy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘No one believed that it would ever come to this place’: Fear and hatred clouded efforts to care for Iowa’s early AIDS patients
This is the second article in a three-part series examining the legacy of HIV/AIDS in Iowa City. Read part one here. It’s October 1980, and Jack Stapleton is treating a 19-year-old girl diagnosed with a rare lung infection: pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Stapleton, then an internal medicine intern in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, became interested in […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Emma Goldman Clinic’s founding mothers reflect on ‘the beauty of choice,’ half a century of Roe and the future of abortion care
Deb Nye was 23 when she heard the news: The Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade had just affirmed a person’s right to choose to have an abortion. It was late January 1973, and light snow covered the ground. She ran two blocks to the University of Iowa College of Law building, crossing over […]
Posted inCOVID-19
An Iowa City woman’s months-long fight against COVID-19 was marked by fear and frustration
When COVID-19 first took root in the United States, Iowa City resident Nora Boerner joined many nationwide in staying home as much as possible to keep her husband and four children safe. However, these precautions weren’t enough to prevent her from contracting the disease in mid-April. “Because of when I got sick and the journey […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Hike for Healthcare: Protesting Republican attempts to kill the Affordable Care Act
Political activists and other Iowans upset about Republican health care policies will be gathering in Cedar Rapids at noon for the Hike for Healthcare. At the same time protesters in Cedar Rapids are marching the half-mile from the corner to 8th Ave and 2nd Street, SE, to Rep. Rod Blum’s office, there will also be protests at Blum’s offices in Cedar Falls and Dubuque, as well as at Rep. David Young’s Des Moines office.
Posted inCommunity/News
Sens. Grassley and Ernst won’t say where they stand on a health care bill that would have a massive impact on Iowans
The latest Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — the Graham-Cassidy bill — would remove protections for people with preexisting conditions, create new restrictions on women’s health care and reduce subsidies for individuals buying their own insurance.
