Articles Tagged: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Nationwide, the number of people buying health plans on Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces is down by about 833,000 compared with a year ago, according to federal data released last week.

According to the results of a recent survey conducted by Iowa CareGivers and Iowa Workforce Development, roughly one quarter of full-time direct care workers have more than one job. Direct care workers include certified nurse aides, home care aides, direct support professionals and others who provide hands-on care in any setting.

Iowa Methodist Medical Center-UnityPoint, in Des Moines, will receive the Medicare funding to support 2.92 additional positions

More than 136,000 Iowans purchased their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace this year. As premiums for many ACA plans are poised to skyrocket when tax credits expire at the end of this year, Iowans are weighing big decisions ahead of the Dec. 15 enrollment deadline.

New numbers show Iowa’s jobless rate fell slightly in September, though more Iowans remain unemployed than a year ago. State officials are also seeking proposals for a federally backed effort to boost rural health care access.

Three Democratic candidates vying to succeed Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson in northeast Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District told voters Sunday they would make health care more affordable, strengthen unions and push back on policies they say are squeezing working families and small farmers.

The $50 billion initiative is aimed at helping states offset the impact of the cuts rural hospitals will face from the spending package’s billions in reductions to Medicaid and other federal health programs.

University of Iowa Health Care in the first quarter of the current 2026 fiscal year is running under budget in revenue and over budget in expenses – resulting in net operating income that is $15 million below expectations for the 2026 term that started July 1, a rarity for the largest health care system in Iowa.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ “Healthy Hometowns” plan aims to modernize rural hospitals with federal aid from a new $50 billion fund — but health leaders warn it won’t fully offset sweeping Medicaid reductions.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is calling for a federal investigation into refineries she says may be exploiting renewable fuel exemptions, while thousands of Iowa seniors are being urged to review their Medicare coverage amid plan cancellations and new drug pricing rules taking effect next year.

A federal probe of Medicare and Medicaid plans run by private insurance companies found that the plan operators often overstated how many mental health providers were available in their networks. In some cases, investigators found providers had never had contracts with plans they were listed on.

At Lion Bridge Brewery in Cedar Rapids, U.S. Senate candidate Nathan Sage shared his story of growing up poor in Mason City, serving three tours in Iraq, and leading a local chamber of commerce — arguing those experiences shaped his fight for workers, unions and rural Iowans.

Nationwide, states are racing to win their share of a new $50 billion rural health fund. But helping rural hospitals, as originally envisioned, is quickly becoming a quaint idea.

At a rally of Iowa GOP women in Iowa City, U.S. Reps. Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks lauded the release of Israeli hostages under a Trump-brokered ceasefire and denounced Democrats over the ongoing government shutdown.

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday set a special election date for Tuesday, Dec. 30, to fill the Iowa Senate seat vacated with former Sen. Claire Celsi’s death.