From Senator Amanda Ragan –
This week, I was part of a group that submitted a letter to President Obama and other federal officials about our growing, heartfelt concerns over Governor Branstad’s unilateral decision to privatize Iowa’s Medicaid program. We appreciate the decision by federal officials in December to delay implementation of Medicaid privatization until March 1. It’s clear they recognized that the Governor’s Administration was trying to do too much, too fast and failing to protect Iowans.
But Iowa still isn’t ready. Since the delay by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) more than 40 days ago, we have seen no evidence that the Iowa Medicaid Enterprise and the out-of-state companies picked to help privatize Medicaid have taken the steps necessary to ensure the health and wellbeing of more than 560,000 Iowans. The concerns CMS expressed about Iowa’s Medicaid privatization in December are equally valid today. They include:
· Arbitrary and unrealistic implementation timeline
· Failure to establish adequate provider networks in advance
· Disruptions of longstanding patient-provider relationships
· Diminished quality and access to health care services
· Compromised patient care
· Inadequate communication with patients and providers
For all these reasons, we are calling on President Obama and other key federal officials to deny Iowa’s application to establish a statewide private managed care system for Medicaid. Instead, Iowa should continue improving patient outcomes, increasing access to care and making the existing public management of Medicaid more efficient.
