Medicaid meeting set for Dec. 7 at state capitol

If you’re interested in what state lawmakers have to say about the planned Jan. 1 statewide Medicaid transition to managed care, mark Dec. 7 on your calendar.

That’s the date of the Iowa State Senate’s Health Policy Oversight Committee is set to meet in the State Supreme Court chamber of the state capitol. The 10 a.m. meeting will allow lawmakers to address concerns about the upcoming transition, and should allow two Democratic senators to discuss this week’s trip to Washington, D.C., where they discussed concerns about the planned changes with Iowa Medicaid.

Senate President Pam Jochum (D-Dubuque), along with Oversight Committee members Amanda Ragan (D-Mason City) and Liz Mathis (D-Cedar Rapids) met with representatives of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Washington, D.C., and held a conference call with the media Wednesday morning.

Ragan, who is one of the Oversight Committee’s co-chairs, is still preparing the agenda for the Dec. 7 meeting. However, Ragan and Mathis will be as well-armed as ever with momentum to attempt to stall or reverse Gov. Terry Branstad’s executive decision to move Medicaid to an arrangement that contracts with four managed-care companies.

Jochum said the meeting with the officials was productive, and there are plans for federal officials to come to Iowa at about the same week as the Dec. 7 meeting to do some on-site audits.

“We met with them for about 75 minutes,” Jochum said. “They said they have serious concerns about there being an adequate network of providers. They have deep concerns about whether Iowa is really ready to do this.”

With the implementation set for Jan. 1, a federal intervention or other action will need to happen quickly.

Jochum said she is returning to Iowa feeling “somewhat positive” about how things will progress in the weeks ahead. She said the three Iowa senators, and the CMS are on the same page in terms of making it a priority to not allow any patients to suffer due to a lapse in coverage or care.

“Continuity of care is important so that no one falls through the cracks,” she said.

Jochum said it appears many in Washington, who are involved with health care, are fully aware of the controversy in Branstad’s plan, and the scrutiny of the process that led to the four contracts that were awarded.

“They seem to have a handle on what’s going on in Iowa, and its implications,” Jochum said. “They’re concerned about what’s going on. They’ve been following the selection process and the news here in Iowa, so that did come up.”

Jochum said Branstad has not given the public the proper facts related to what percentages of Medicaid, in other states, have managed care, in an effort to describe the arrangement as a tested, tried system.

“The governor has thrown out some big numbers that are truly misleading,” Jochum said. “We would only be the fifth state in the country to have our entire Medicaid system under managed care.”

State Sen. Chaz Allen (D-Newton) said he has heard from many of his constituents who have said the move to managed care is happening too fast. Allen, who serves on the Senate’s Human Resources Committee that addresses health care issues, said there might not be much that can be done before or during the session.

The Democratic-majority Senate approved SF 452, an oversight reform bill, by a 50-0 vote in March during the 2015 session, but the measure never even made it past the subcommittee level in the Republican-controlled House.

“We didn’t have enough votes to get a bill passed last time,” Allen said. “But this time, we might.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com