DES MOINES – Iowa Democrats kept their promise to help middle-class Iowans during the just-completed 2013 session, party leaders said Wednesday. “Democrats delivered,” said Rep. Tyler Olson, a Cedar Rapids Democrat who also serves as chairman of the state Democratic Party. That was especially true on issues related to health care, education and tax policy,’ [...]

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 [...]

Majority Democrats in the Iowa Senate refused Wednesday to approve a House-passed version of Gov. Terry Branstad’s Healthy Iowa plan – likely sending the issue of expanding health care coverage for lower-income Iowans to a conference committee to resolve differences. Senators voted on a 26-24 party-line verdict to reject Republicans’ alternative to an expansion of [...]

DES MOINES — A House committee pushed through Gov. Terry Branstad’s Healthy Iowa plan Monday even as some members of the majority Republican Party expressed misgivings about the plan. “I’m being a good soldier,” said Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mount Pleasant. “Today I helped move the bill forward at the governor’s request and when it comes to [...]

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 [...]

Gov. Terry Branstad isn’t giving up on his plan to make Iowa the healthiest state, even though his plan has been characterized as costing more and covering fewer Iowans than the alternative. “Obviously we have a very partisan situation in the Legislature. A lot of people have their minds made up,” the GOP governor said [...]

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 [...]

Iowa’s plan for a state-federal partnership health insurance exchange has received conditional approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the approval is contingent on Iowa’s ability to perform the activities described in the Exchange Blueprint Application it submitted on Feb. 14 and the state’s compliance with the regulations [...]