Iowa for Health Care hosts Roundtable Discussion in Cedar Rapids
Earlier this month, Iowa for Health Care hosted a roundtable discussion on health care in Iowa's 37th House District. Art Staed and Renee Schulte, the two candidates vying for this position were invited to discuss their positions and record on health care to group of Health Care Voters in Cedar Rapids, though Renee Schulte failed to attend.
Art Staed discussed the health care bill he helped pass called HF 2539. This bill puts Iowa on a path to universal health care coverage for the state's 50,000 uninsured children. Also, HF 2539 will improve our state's overall health care by offering more options for adults to purchase coverage, encouraging the use of electronic medical records, focusing on chronic disease prevention, and allowing young adults to stay on their family's health insurance plan until they are 25.
Iowa for Health Care hosts Roundtable Discussion in Quad Cities
Iowa for Health Care also held a roundtable discussion this Fall in Iowa's 84th House District. Elesha Gayman discussed the issue at length with a group of Scott County Health Care Voters at the Public Library in Davenport. Her opponent, Ross Paustian, was invited but did not attend.
The key issues that were discussed included insurance companies discriminating against consumers due to pre-existing conditions, and mental health parity. Both are issues that Gayman has worked tirelessly to reform at the statehouse.
On the first issue, pre-existing conditions, she was able to pass a bill that will make it illegal to deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions to a consumer who has moved from a group to a private plan. This will mean a great deal of freedom to Iowans who may feel trapped in their job, or unable to retire, because they can't afford to lose their coverage. Now they are guaranteed to find a plan on the individual market if needed.
Furthermore, a Federal bill was recently passed that confronts the second issue, mental health parity. As part of the famous $700 Billion Wall Street Rescue Package, mental health parity was also accomplished. The idea is that, in times of economic struggle, rates of depression go up dramatically. As a way to offer help to Americans who are struggling with mental health issues, that are so often ignored by insurance companies, insurance providers will now be required to cover mental health issues in the same way as physical health issues for many more Americans. According to the New York Times, "Federal officials said the law would improve coverage for 113 million people, including 82 million in employer-sponsored plans that are not subject to state regulation. The effective date, for most health plans, will be Jan. 1, 2010."
Thank you to everyone who helped with the Sarah Posekany Benefit
The Benefit Concert for Sarah Posekany in Cedar Falls was a success. Thank you to everyone who attended the event, donated online, or sent a check to the Sarah Posekany Nursing School Tuition Fund. If you’d like to see the news coverage from the event click here: http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?s=9022852
Or if you’d like to see the story about Sarah from the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier then click here: http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/09/13/news/metro/10602242.txt
Governor Culver signs two monumental health care bills
Governor Culver recently signed two pieces of legislation that will bring much needed changes to the state of our health care system. The first bill puts Iowa on a path to universal health care coverage for the state’s 50,000 uninsured children.
Also, HF 2539 will improve out state’s overall health care by offering more options for adults to purchase coverage, encouraging the use of electronic medical records, focusing on chronic disease prevention, and allowing young adults to stay on their family’s health insurance plan until they are 25.
The second bill, SF 2425, earmarks this year’s Medicaid provider reimbursement increase to boost nurse wages across the state. This one-percent Medicaid provider reimbursement increase could mean $5.1 million for Iowa’s RNs, translating to hundreds of dollars per nurse.
Beginning to raise nurse wages is a needed step toward solving the state’s drastic nurse shortage. At the rate we are going, Iowa is set to have a shortfall of 9,100 RNs by 2020, leaving a 27 percent shortage. Passing this bill proves that Iowa is ready to take on the issue that hits our nurses the hardest: wages. Iowa’s nurses are the lowest wage earners of any state in the country, ranking 52nd.
Iowa for Health Care and SEIU are very proud to see these bills become law. Over the past couple years the organizations have worked hard to develop and support the health care bill at the Capitol. Iowa for Health Care and SEIU’s Sarah Swisher served proudly on the Governor’s Legislative Commission on Affordable Health Care for Small Businesses and Families that developed ideas for the health care bill. Swisher also led the charge in bringing the issue of low nurse wages to the attention of the Governor’s Nursing Taskforce, and to our state legislators.
Iowa for Health Care Thanks Sen. Chuck Grassley
Iowa for Health Care met with Sen. Chuck Grassley in Marion, Eldridge, and Tipton during his campaign visits to the respective areas. On behalf of our 32,000 Health Care Voters, Iowa for Health Care activists thanked Grassley for his leadership on positive health care reform, and asked him to continue to fight for the issue.
"Sen. Grassley took the moral stance on the SCHIP issue, not only did he vote for the bill's greatest expansion, he openly supported it. He stood up for what was right, and that means a lot to the people of Iowa," said Health Care Voter Mary Schlichte.
In 2007, the Senator voted to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover nearly four million more uninsured children across the country and thousands here in Iowa. This year, the Senator has co-sponsored a bill that would improve nursing home care by increasing transparency and accountability and improving enforcement called the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act (S2641).
Cong. Tom Latham visits with Health Care Voters to discuss Health Care Issues
Congressman Tom Latham from Iowa's 4th Congressional District met with Health Care Voters in Iowa City to discuss important health care issues. Cong. Latham has been traveling across the state holding community forums with groups of nurses to discuss the growing nursing shortage that is quickly becoming a crisis in this state. "We'll have an extremely serious problem when the baby boomers get in the nursing homes. This could decimate quality health care if this isn't addressed soon," Latham told the Associated Press about the issue.
According to the Iowa Department of Public Health we currently have 8 percent fewer nurses working in Iowa than we need, and that gap will only increase unless solutions are brought to the table. And although this is a problem that is duplicated in states across the country, Iowa faces a unique obstacle in filling this void because we pay our nurses lower than any other state in the U.S.
Quad City Interfaith and Iowa for Health Care plan for Health Care action in the Quad Cities
Iowa for Health has been meeting with the Quad City Interfaith (a public advocacy organization of over 30 Quad City churches from every faith) over the past weeks to plan ways to get the area's many congregations involved and informed about the state of health care in this country.
In working with this group, Iowa for Health Care hopes to get the Quad City's community better educated on what our nation's health care crisis means to them, and what they can do about it.
See us here in the Quad City Times Newspaper
Fed says Health Care Spending to Increase
Residents of the U.S. vote with many issues in mind, but the issues that historically take precedence are those that affect the pocketbook. This is evident within the issue of health care reform, as health care costs continue to increase by leaps and bounds ever year, the cry for comprehensive reform gets louder and louder.
The Federal Government announced in early March that at the rate we are going, the United States will be spending over $4 trillion a year on health care by 2017. That would mean one out of every five dollars that is spent in this country would be going toward health care.
Iowa for Health Care and its 40,000 Health Care Voters have been pushing for change in our health care system since 2002, saying that "the longer we wait, the worse it is going to get." Well, as you can see, we won't be able to afford to wait much longer.
2008 will be a defining year for health care reform, both in Iowa, and across the country. Not only are we facing progressive reform from our Statehouse that would take crucial steps toward covering Iowa's kids and eventually covering all Iowans, but we will be faced with the opportunity to elect a health care friendly President who can tackle this crisis from the Federal level. Please stay with us in this fight, and let's reverse this crisis.