Gov. Terry Branstad today is hailing the members of split-control Legislature for their landmark session achievements. The five-term GOP governor says lawmakers succeeded in approving significant property tax relief, transformational education reform, and meaningful health modernization that focuses on quality outcomes for low-income patients while modernizing of the Medicaid system. The governor noted that the [...]

Key legislators and Gov. Terry Branstad expressed optimism Monday that progress was being made to forge a “hybrid” health care compromise that would merge elements of the governor’s “Healthy Iowa” plan with Senate Democrats’ desire to expand Medicaid to cover low-income, uninsured Iowans. “If we’re going to get something resolved, nobody’s going to get their [...]

DES MOINES – Gov. Terry Branstad reiterated his contention Monday that residents at the Iowa Veterans Home are getting top-quality care and expressed concern that criticism of leadership at the Marshalltown facility is becoming increasingly political. However, a key Democrat who has raised concern about quality of care and safety issues at the veterans’ home [...]

  DES MOINES – Iowa senators agreed Tuesday to pump nearly $43 million in additional state surplus dollars into mental health services in an effort to avoid service cuts or waiting lists for counties functioning under a newly redesigned regional service delivery system. Backers said the Iowa Senate’s 33-17 bipartisan passage would put majority Democrats [...]

DES MOINES – Amid the partisan war of words over expanding health care access to more low-income Iowans there are hints lawmakers may be finding common ground. Democratic leaders, who have called Gov. Terry Branstad’s plan “deceptive and dishonest,” Thursday, emphasized what the plans have in common. “We’re focused on preventive medicine, wellness plans and [...]

Gov. Terry Branstad is being advised to spend his time on a long flight to China later this week reading the Senate Democratic plan to expand Medicaid to about 150,000 more Iowans. “I suggest you read our bill,” Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, a leading advocate of the ObamaCare-funded Medicaid expansion. “I suggest you read [...]

More than a quarter of a million Iowans will qualify for health care tax credits starting next year as part of the Affordable Care Act, according to a report released Thursday by a Washington-based health care advocacy group. The law, commonly known as “Obamacare,” will make credits available starting in January 2014 that are intended [...]

State funding for Medicaid is slated to run out in early June, putting additional pressure on state lawmakers to resolve an ongoing impasse over language dealing with public funding of abortions that has stalled work on the health and human services budget piece this session, officials said Thursday. Members of the split-control Legislature left the [...]

Time slipped away Wednesday for a host of legislative ideas slated to meet their demise when the 2013 session’s first “funnel” deadline arrives at week’s end. Bills dealing with Internet poker, traffic enforcement cameras, distracted driving, secret vehicle compartments, tanning booth prohibitions for minors, various restrictions on abortion procedures and gun ownership, reinstating the death [...]

UPDATE: Gov. Terry Branstad’s Medicaid expansion alternative received a cool reception from Senate Democrats, who would have to agree to the plan to make it a reality. Dubbed The Healthy Iowa Plan, Branstad’s proposal covers roughly 89,000 uninsured Iowans, while Medicaid expansion is estimated to cover 150,000 uninsured Iowans. Branstad’s plan also costs tens of [...]