Iowa Senators voted to improve the IowaCare program by expanding coverage to residents outside of Iowa City and Des Moines. The bill will allow newly-eligible residents to receive routine care at safety-net clinics and emergency care at local hospitals.
In addition to expanding the reach of the program, an “information exchange ” will be set up that seems very similar to the Democratic health reform bill that is currently stalled in Washington. This exchange gives Iowa residents access information about health insurance policies and the quality of care on hospitals on the Internet.
IowaCare now services 35,000 uninsured adults who earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level which equates to $22,000 for a single person according to the Des Moines Register. IowaCare was established for uninsured adults who are too young for Medicare but don’t qualify for Medicaid.
One provision of the bill would have increased the income limit to 300 percent of the FPL, making an additional 100,000 uninsured adults eligible for coverage. The Senate voted the provision out of the bill in a vote of 28 to 22.
Iowa Legislature felt that residents already have some of the lowest health insurance costs across the nation. Instead, Senator Tom Rielly proposed that the state should find ways to help struggling Iowans pay their private health insurance premiums rather than expand the state-government program.