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Commission: Provide health care to all Iowa children

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By Charlotte Eby | Wednesday, January 9, 2008 12:09 AM CST | () comments

DES MOINES — A state commission studying Iowa’s health care system recommended a goal of making health care accessible to all Iowans and said providing health insurance to all Iowa children should be the first step.

The commission, made up of state lawmakers and representatives for consumers, health care providers, insurance interests and small businesses, released its proposal Tuesday at a Statehouse news conference.

One of the leading lawmakers on the issue, Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, called the support for a systemic change in the way health care is delivered extraordinary.

“We would not have been able to come to that conclusion a year ago if it wasn’t for the dire need and the crisis in health care today, that so many people are uninsured and or worried about their health care coverage,” Hatch said. He cited a statistic showing that 9 percent of Iowans do not have health insurance.

The first goal to achieve universal care, the commission said, is to enroll the 25,000 to 30,000 Iowa children who are eligible for low-income insurance programs and whose parents haven’t signed them up.

Enrolling those children in Medicaid or hawk-i programs could cost the state an estimated $15 million to $20 million each year.

Hatch and another key lawmaker on the issue, Rep. Ro Foege, D-Mount Vernon, stressed that the commission’s recommendations were different from what might be contained in legislation addressing the issue, which should be ready in about two weeks. Hatch declined to say what specifics might be in the draft.

The commission’s report also recommended that every Iowan have a “medical home” where they can develop a relationship with a health care provider to address wellness and chronic disease management.

“That’s where the cost containments come in,” Foege said.

State Rep. Linda Upmeyer, a Garner Republican who served on the commission, said it is a complex issue and many details still need to be worked out before the state achieves universal coverage. That includes how it would be paid for.

“I have no illusions that we’re going to get it all done this year,” Upmeyer said.

David Carlyle, a family doctor at the McFarland Clinic in Ames who served on the commission, stressed the need to take action on the lack of health insurance.

“For physicians like myself who see it daily, the lack of health insurance acts like a cancer spreading, infiltrating and metastasizing throughout our society,” he said.

John Aschenbrenner, an officer at Principal Financial Group who represented Iowa’s insurance industry on the commission, said they would like to take smaller steps at first. Those include defining what universal health care would look like, at what level Iowans can afford to pay for their own health care and when the state needs to step in to subsidize coverage.

“What we tried to do is bite off some manageable steps in 2008 that we can take that will start moving us in the direction toward our vision,” Aschenbrenner said.

Charlotte Eby can be contacted at

(515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.