Des Moines Register. August 17, 2017
Reynolds’ Medicaid rhetoric does not reflect reality
Privatization has not improved access to care or accountability
The Doublespeak Award was established in 1974 and is given by the National Council of Teachers of English. The ironic, annual tribute recognizes individuals and entities using language that is, among other things, deceptive, evasive and confusing.
Recipients include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, President Bill Clinton, the tobacco industry and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
In 2015, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst was granted the award for referring to Keystone XL Pipeline legislation as the “Keystone Jobs Bill” in her response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. Last year the council voted unanimously to bestow it on President Donald Trump, who characterized political opponents as dishonest “while spinning unsubstantiated claims of his own.”
Now the award committee is seeking nominations for 2017. Iowans should nominate Gov. Kim Reynolds for her misleading rhetoric on the Medicaid privatization experiment implemented by her former boss. Her statements deserve recognition.
After handing over management of the $4 billion Medicaid program to three for-profit companies last year, Iowans have filed hundreds of complaints, including many about losing access to care. Health providers have closed their doors. Iowans with disabilities have filed a federal lawsuit against Reynolds, accusing the state of depriving thousands the right to live safely outside institutions.
Yet the new governor continues to insist privatization is a great thing..
Several months ago she was quoted in a news release as saying Iowans with “high risk behavioral health conditions” were faring better under privatized Medicaid.
Soon after, the Register editorial board reported the private insurers owed Southwest Iowa Mental Health System about $300,000 for services provided. We recently reported on a private insurer refusing to cover care for a mentally ill teen. This week Des Moines psychiatrist Jim Gallagher told an editorial writer that the private insurers were reducing payments to workers who supervise individuals in group homes, including a man with a history of pedophilia.
Yet Reynolds does not acknowledge such problems. Worse, she pretends there are none. An August 3 press release from her office referenced a questionable survey indicating Iowa patients’ satisfaction was among the highest in the nation.
“Medicaid modernization improves access, gives patients more choices and brings accountability to the program,” Reynolds said in her statement.
There is zero accountability for state officials and insurers holding secret meetings about how much more public money to give the companies. And Tom Mouw, who died 27 days before the press release was issued, did not have more access to care or any choices. He had one option: moving from his home to an institution in another state.
Register reporter Jason Clayworth detailed the Orange City man’s horror story Aug. 13.
After a vehicle accident left him a quadriplegic more than three decades ago, Mouw was unable to feed himself and needed a ventilator to breathe. State-managed Medicaid paid caregivers to provide daily assistance, which allowed the man to remain in his home all these years.
Then private insurers took over Medicaid. Amerigroup deemed Mouw’s longtime caregivers not qualified and refused to pay them. Eventually the inability to find in-home care forced him into a facility in South Dakota. He died six weeks later.
Cyndi Mouw blames her husband’s death on Iowa’s decision to privatize Medicaid. Though she has not reviewed all the medical bills, she is sure her husband’s care was far cheaper at home than in the facility where he spent his final weeks.
Now that he has died, he will not cost Amerigroup anything. And the insurer answers to no one about its actions.
The private companies have repeatedly refused to answer questions about Iowans’ horror stories. Though Cyndi Mouw signed waiver forms allowing Amerigroup to speak with a reporter about her husband’s care, the insurer did not.
Instead, the company’s spokesperson said there are “a lot of people” willing to share positive privatization stories - but then did not produce a single name. This spin tactic was also employed by the Branstad administration, which touted “success stories” without identifying the supposedly happy Iowans.
The Register frequently hears from Iowans who have lost health care, closed medical services businesses or are owed money by the insurers. And now we have heard from the widow of a man who died after the insurer refused to pay his caregivers.
Reynolds should rethink her press releases on this issue. They do not reflect the reality of what is going on in this state. The current governor has no obligation to continue defending a disaster set in motion by her predecessor.
She does, however, have an obligation to be honest with the nearly 600,000 Iowans who rely on Medicaid, the thousands of health providers who serve them and the taxpayers funding the program. Unfortunately, such honesty is painfully absent.
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Sioux City Journal. August 17, 2017
Cast your vote for the new Iowa license plate!
Whether Iowa kept the same license plate or changed to something different next year made no difference to us, frankly.
However, change is coming, so we will offer our five cents’ worth to the discussion.
Iowa Department of Transportation employee Christina Andersen, a graphic designer, created three options for a new license plate. The options were unveiled by Gov. Kim Reynolds and DOT Director Mark Lowe at the State Fair last week.
The three designs are available for a public vote, either in person at the DOT’s booth at the State Fair or online at the DOT’s website. Votes will be collected through Sunday; the winner will be announced in late August or early September.
Our choice? A drumroll, please.
We like “City and Country Reboot.”
Why?
It captures the essence of our state by incorporating urban, rural and green-energy components, but remains uncluttered and easy for law enforcement to read.
We encourage all Iowans to have some fun with this contest and cast their own vote (as we wrote this, more than 246,000 votes had been tallied on the DOT’s website). To vote online, go to: https://iowadot.gov/StateFair/PickAPlate.aspx
Finally, this.
Andersen, who designed the three choices, was pilloried for them by some Iowans.
“In the past 48 hours, I’ve been indirectly told by close to 5K people that I suck, have the talent of a third-grader and should be fired from my job,” Andersen posted on Facebook, according to a Saturday Des Moines Register story.
Really? Wow.
First, Andersen produced her designs within specific guidelines.
Second, lighten up, folks; it’s just a license plate.
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Quad-City Times. August 18, 2017
Tax down, tuition up
Unacceptable, squealed Iowa’s elected class after administrators at two state universities sought tuition hikes of 40 percent over the next five years.
Gov. Kim Reynolds blasted the proposed hikes pushed by leadership at Iowa State University and University of Iowa.
OK. Go on.
Nope. Nothing.
You know what’s unacceptable? Starving Iowa’s educational system. That’s unacceptable. Pushing even deeper tax cuts next year. That’s unacceptable. Deriding university officials for trying to balance the books. That’s unacceptable. Lacking the moral conviction to offer a solution. That’s unacceptable. Forcing students to pay for incessant tax cuts for the wealthy. That’s unacceptable.
Iowa’s regents universities didn’t create this mess. They’re victims of a state that simply doesn’t value education anymore. Or, at least, one that places it below tax cuts for big business on the list of priorities. In 2013, then Lt. Gov. Reynolds supported the largest tax cuts in state history, which are now directly responsible for incessant budgetary shortfalls.
Iowa’s public, four-year universities have a core mission. They’re supposed to be accessible to the vast majority of Iowans. They’re supposed to offer both good value and strong programs for non-resident students. But the recent slash-and-burn approach in the Legislature and Governor’s Mansion have threatened that mandate.
It should be no surprise that administrators from University of Iowa and Iowa State seek an influx of cash. They face spiking enrollment, which requires infrastructure, staff and support. They’re grappling with a generation that took seriously society’s promise for an affordable university education.
It’s a pledge that Des Moines has no intention of keeping.
Perhaps the most striking information released at last week’s Iowa Board of Regents was the paltry amount of state aid students at Iowa universities receive. Just 6 percent of total state spending on means-tested aid goes to students at one of Iowa’s three regents universities, says Iowa Student Aid Commission. That’s the worst rate in the country.
Universities, themselves, facing criticism over student debt, are left holding the bill. Total institutional undergraduate aid at University of Iowa, for example, exploded from $26 million in 2007 to more than $75 million in 2015, a nearly three-fold increase.
U of I President Bruce Herrald is a businessman, remember, not some patsy for faculty senate. That’s why he got the job in 2015 over the protests of faculty and staff. And he’s concluded that his institution is starving.
So, now, the U of I and ISU want to charge undergrads about $10,500 in base tuition by 2022, after a series of annual 7 percent hikes. That’s steep. Non-residents would shell out a more than $30,000 a year. At some point, pricey private schools start looking like a bargain.
And yet, Reynolds has already mentioned her desire for more “tax reform” this coming session. In Republican circles, tax cuts might be good politics for both Reynolds and her allies in the Legislature. It’s an election year, after all, and Reynolds has just one legislative cycle to cement her quasi-incumbency. But, as with the proposed tuition hike, someone else always pays.
Good politics and good policy aren’t often one and the same. Recent tax cuts have already cost Iowa billions in revenue. They’re the reason lawmakers keep dipping into reserves to pay the bills. They’re the reason the immoral K-12 educational funding inequity wasn’t fixed last year. They’re the reason state parks are understaffed.
They’re the reason Iowa can’t follow through in its promise to students that a four-year education would be both attainable and respected. Neither is true.
It’s time athletic departments start sharing the wealth of those massive television contracts. It’s time Reynolds and Republican lawmakers get serious about adequately funding education.
And it’s time to be honest and admit that another round of tax cuts would only make things worse.
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Fort Dodge Messenger. August 17, 2017
133rd Test Squadron set to deploy
The Iowa Air National Guard 133rd Test Squadron plays a highly significant role in our nation’s defense. It tests communication gear, radar, data links and software before it is issued to all branches of the military. It has the distinction of being the only Air National Guard unit with this type of specialization.
Over the years, individual members of the unit frequently have spent time on active duty augmenting other units. This fall, however, the Fort Dodge-based squadron will commence its first large deployment in many years. About 60 members of the Test Squadron will take part in an important overseas mission that will last six or seven months.
The unit’s members will provide command and control for pilots in the area of the U.S. Air Force’s Central Command, which includes Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. In so doing, the squadron will be undertaking a type of wartime role for which it has maintained qualifications throughout its history.
This challenging mission is one for which the 133rd Test Squadron is superbly qualified. Its reputation for excellence is well-established. Just five years ago, it had the distinction of being named the best unit of its type in the nation. It received the 2012 Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.
The missions the 133rd Test Squadron handles so impressively help keep our military strong. It is a vital part of our defense structure. The important work its members are about to undertake this fall deserve the thanks of all Americans.
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