It could not be more clear that ReynoldsCare is failing, and Iowans are hurting. Excerpts from a recent article from the Iowa City Press-Citizen further highlight the human toll of Governor Reynolds’ bad health policy:

Iowa City Press-Citizen: ‘We’re completely in the dark’: Families still uncertain after Iowa Medicaid transition

The transition process has not left her confident that Ryan’s new case manager will have the same understanding of his needs as his former case manager with Johnson County Case Management, who worked with Ryan for almost 15 years.”

“They told his old case manager that they’re not going to cut his services, but they don’t even know what his services are,” she said.

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In late November, the Department of Human Services said it would resume oversight for more than 10,000 Iowans who had tried to switch companies before the deadline.

The Mulhausens were not a part of that group, Teresa Mulhausen said, because they did not receive the letter informing them of their choice until after the deadline.

Teresa Mulhausen said she believes the only reason she received a call from UnitedHealthcare about Ryan’s new case manager was because she gave a television interview to KCRG criticizing the transition process.

But on Dec. 11, a week and a half after UnitedHealthcare assumed care of AmeriHealth’s former clients, Jan Jeter said she still didn’t know who her son’s new case manager would be.

“We’re completely in the dark on all that,” she said. “We haven’t heard.”

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“There have been families that have been very frustrated with the process of being switched again, letting us know that they’re not happy that they may lose us, lose their case manager. It’s the same sentiment with most phone calls,” Wollum said.

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Teresa Mulhausen said the debate around Medicaid has obscured its impact on recipients’ lives. She said people who don’t receive Medicaid are often unaware that an unexpected accident could lead them to rely on Medicaid in the future.

“First of all, they’re people,” she said of Medicaid recipients. “(Others) talk about enrollees, they call them different things, but they don’t talk about them like they’re people.”

Mulhausen wants people with serious disabilities and complicated medical conditions like Ryan to return to state-managed care — an option that Gov. Kim Reynolds has rejected. DHS officials say state oversight of the 10,000 people who tried to switch to Amerigroup will only last until that company has additional staff in place and can handle new clients.

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Jan Jeter agrees. She, like Mulhausen, is skeptical of the effectiveness of privatizing Iowa’s Medicaid program. Although Branstad and Reynolds have said privatization will save money, the Des Moines Register reported last week that the cost of the program has roughly doubled to $504 million a year.

“We really wish it would go back to our local DHS,” Jeter said. “That’s what our wish would be at this point. It just seems crazy to have this for-profit company and turn over all the money to them and then they can do whatever they want.”