Members testify for Medicaid expansion
This morning CCI members are testifying at a packed Senate subcommittee hearing on a bill that would direct the state to expand Medicaid as laid out in the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress.Expansion would cover Iowans up to 138% of the federal poverty level (current eligibility is set at 100%), including many low-income individuals not currently eligible. The federal government would pick up almost the entire cost of expansion.Expanding Medicaid to cover nearly 150,000 more Iowans without access to adequate health coverage isn't just good public policy, it's the right thing to do.It's the right thing to do for people like Lou Ann, whose daughter was kicked off Medicaid when she turned 21 and placed instead on IowaCare.
Lou Ann's daughter is currently unemployed and struggles with anxiety and mental illness. Under Medicaid, she had flexibility in providers and could see counselors who knew her situation and could best address the struggles she faced. Under IowaCare, she now faces long waits, uncertainty in physicians she is able to see and stress finding transportation to the only hospital in town that takes the IowaCare patients.
Read Lou Ann's full and extremely moving testimony here: A mother's call for Medicaid expansion.
Click here to urge your legislators to embrace Medicaid expansion today so people like her daughter have access to providers and treatment that produces better health outcomes.
- It's the right thing to do for people like Holly, who makes just enough at her job to not qualify for traditional Medicaid, but doesn't have health insurance and doesn't know how she'll afford coverage on her current income.
- Or Molly, who can't see the same physician as her two children because while they are on Medicaid, she only qualifies for IowaCare.
There's many more like LouAnn's daughter and like Holly and Molly in Iowa that are looking to our governor and legislature to do the right thing and give them a fair shot at health insurance coverage and a better quality of life. That chance is now, and our elected officials need to hear from you.As Lou Ann says, "Who among us does not have a heart enough to feel, or eyes wide enough to see that there are people in our state who are hurting, who are ill, and who are falling through the cracks?"
Learn more
- A mother's call for Medicaid expansion
- Making the Case for Iowa's Expansion of Medicaid - a great op-ed piece from the Child & Family Policy Center
- A quick fact sheet on the issue, here.
Take Action
- Write a letter to the editor. Everyday people speaking out, across the state, will put increased pressure on Governor Branstad to do the right thing and support Medicaid expansion.
- Your Senator and Representative need to hear from you on this issue. Click here to share your story and urge them to embrace Medicaid expansion today.
Join the fight
- Contact us for more information
- Join as an Iowa CCI Action Fund member today or chip in $20 to support our organizing on this issue.
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