Confidential information about almost 7,000 Medicaid recipients in the state was exposed in a data breach caused by a mistake at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to a HHS news release on Monday, a file containing confidential information on 6,717 Iowans receiving Medicaid was “inadvertently posted to the Department’s website […]
medicaid
Posted inCommunity/News
To cover Medicaid funding gap left by Congress, Iowa House passes bill to raise tax on HMOs; Democrats warn health insurance premiums will spike
The Iowa House passed a bill Thursday retroactively raising the premium tax rate for health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to make up for a Medicaid budget shortfall — a move Democrats and insurers said would raise healthcare costs for all Iowans, but Republicans argued was needed to draw down federal funding. HF 2739, approved on a […]
Posted inStatewide
Planned Parenthood at risk of closing hundreds of clinics, drastically limiting abortion access nationwide
If the budget reconciliation package before the U.S. Senate becomes law in the coming weeks, reproductive health advocates say the provision that would cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood clinics could serve as a backdoor nationwide abortion ban, eliminating access to one in four abortion providers. The Republican-led bill, which already passed the House by […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Sen. Ernst mocks critics of her ‘Well, we all are going to die’ remark, suggests they seek Jesus
After capturing national headlines on Friday for her response of, “Well, we all are going to die,” to an Iowan worried cuts to Medicaid in the Republican budget bill will cause untimely death, Sen. Joni Ernst decided to respond to critics of her dismissive response by mocking them in a passive-aggressive video posted as two […]
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
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
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds proposes special education changes, income tax cuts in Condition of the State speech
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday she plans to continue work this year on cutting taxes and consolidating and reorganizing Iowa’s state government systems with a focus on special education, boards and commissions and mental health care providers. The governor gave her Condition of the State address in the Iowa House Tuesday evening as winter […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Judge halts enforcement of federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health workers in Iowa and nine other states
On Monday, a federal judge in Missouri issued a preliminary injunction stopping the Biden administration from enforcing the mandate requiring workers at healthcare facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid dollars to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The injunction only applies to the 10 states who filed the lawsuit against the mandate. Iowa is one of those […]
Posted inCommunity/News
State Hygienic Lab tells nursing homes it’s unable to process COVID-19 tests required by the federal government
Gov. Kim Reynolds boasted about the work the State Hygienic Laboratory (SHL) has done processing COVID-19 tests — and stressed her administration’s commitment to protecting residents of long-term care facilities — during her news conference on Wednesday, shortly after the Iowa Department of Public Health and SHL sent long-term care facilities a letter announcing “SHL […]
Posted inCommunity/News
State Auditor: ‘Bad data’ from Iowa DHS make it impossible to assess state’s Medicaid home health program
A new report from the Office of the State Auditor was supposed to summarize the results of an 18-month-long attempt to audit the Medicaid program administered by the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) that provides health services to patients in their homes. But that proved to be impossible, because repeated attempts to get accurate information
Posted inCommunity/News
Jerry Foxhoven says he was forced to resign because he wouldn’t approve using DHS funds to pay a Reynolds staffer
Former Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven believes his objection to using DHS funds to pay the salary of a member of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ staff is what led to his forced resignation, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds says the public doesn’t have a right to know why she forced DHS director to resign
Former Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven said last week he was forced resign after he refused a request from Gov. Kim Reynolds’ staff “to do something I thought was illegal.” Foxhoven has not explained what that request was, and in an interview aired on Monday, Reynolds told KCRG she doesn’t think the public has the right to know why she forced Foxhoven out.
