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Sen. Ragan: Privatized Medicaid is increasingly unaffordable

Ragan swearing in, 2019

The following is a legislative update from State Senator Amanda Ragan, representing Franklin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties:

Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program will continue. The state has signed contracts with two Managed Care Organizations—Amerigroup Iowa and Iowa Total Care—to run the program over the next year.

Governor Reynolds has given the out-of-state corporations the largest increases for Medicaid in the last decade. The publicly managed Medicaid system grew at an average of 5% each year over a 10-year period before privatization. Last year, the for-profit MCOs got an increase of 8.4%. This year, the increase is 8.6%, which works out to $386 million.

Privatized Medicaid promised to make Iowans healthier and save the state money. Instead, it has proven to be unsustainable, unaffordable and unpredictable—a bad deal for Iowa Medicaid recipients, health care providers and taxpayers.

I continue to keep tabs on what’s happening with Medicaid, and pushing for reforms that Put Iowans First. Most importantly, I need to hear from you. If you have concerns or experiences to share, please email me at amanda.ragan@legis.iowa.gov.

Update on the fight for medical cannabis reforms

Unfortunately, not enough legislators joined the call for a special session to override the Governor’s veto of House File 732, legislation to reform Iowa’s medical cannabis laws.

In April, the bill passed the House 96-3 and the Senate 40-7. Yet, no Republicans came forward to stand by their votes and help suffering Iowans struggling with epilepsy, cancer, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and other conditions.

The Legislature needs to listen to patients and improve the program to better meet their needs. On July 11, legislative Democrats requested that a study committee meet over the next few months to come up with a solution that everybody can agree to. An interim committee would include public meetings and public input.

However, the studies committee—made up of a bipartisan group of legislators, all of whom voted for the medical cannabis reforms—declined to convene a study. This is a big disappointment to Iowans who want the same access to effective medicines that most other Americans already have.

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