Articles Tagged: Iowa Medicaid

National bus tour rolls through Cedar Rapids to rally opposition to Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts package

Starting Tuesday, mental health and substance use disorder services are being combined into seven behavioral health districts.The transition involves moving from regional to district-based eligibility and billing processes. It aims to provide more consistent care across the state. Will it?

Plans by Senate Republicans to scale back a Medicaid provider tax that states like Iowa use to fund their Medicaid program could deal a greater financial blow to rural hospitals, state and national hospital groups warn.

Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley praised President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill" Wednesday as 80-plus Iowa faith leaders warned of devastating impacts on vulnerable populations in Iowa from changes to federal social safety net programs.

Reductions in spending and tightened eligibility requirements on social safety net programs like Medicaid and food assistance being considered by Republicans in Congress will significantly reduce access to health care and food assistance, impacting thousand of low-income individuals and families across Linn County.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said work requirements are needed to focus Medicaid on those truly in need. A nonpartisan analysis by the state’s Legislative Services Agency projects 32,000 eligible Iowans could lose coverage under the new law.

In the video posted on her Instagram, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst speaks directly to the camera while apparently walking through a cemetery. She says, “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this Earth.”

Politics reporters across the state talk through this week in Iowa Politics, including recent town halls and the big, beautiful bill.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, in Cedar Rapids for a Republican Party of Iowa fundraiser Thursday, questioned President Donald Trump’s authority to unilaterally impose tariffs on other countries by edict, and applauded a federal court ruling blocking Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law.

Doctors, nurses, food bank directors and other social safety net providers across Iowa warn major cuts to public health insurance and food assistance programs could lead to crowded emergency rooms, more rural hospital closures, drained family budgets, overworked providers and reduce care for veterans, seniors and children.

Iowa, with 3.2 million residents, has a total of about 760 inpatient mental health beds that are staffed to care for patients. The Treatment Advocacy Center says the “absolute minimum” of such beds would translate to about 960 for Iowa’s population, and the optimal number would be about 1,920.

The Republican governor pushed most — but not all — her priorities across the finish line.

Lawmakers use surplus to cover expected $917M shortfall

To resolve 2023 lawsuit, new services will be offered to children in the state with serious emotional and behavioral conditions.

Iowa Medicaid would no longer cover surgical procedures and hormone therapy related to treating Iowans with gender dysphoria under a Republican-back bill on its way to Gov. Kim Reynolds for her expected signature.