Republicans and Democrats don’t often find common ground easily, but lawmakers are coming together in force to voice serious concerns about Reynolds’ management of the Medicaid system.

“Legislators see the writing on the wall. They know ReynoldsCare is hurting Iowans and that we need to pursue drastic reform. It’s absolutely baffling that the Governor continues to give this issue lip service instead of seeking real change,” said Iowa Democratic Party Spokesperson Tess Seger.

Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, Des Moines Register:
Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, bluntly warned that lawmakers’ patience is waning with Medicaid managed care, which serves 600,000 low-income and disabled Iowans.

“It has not improved enough, fast enough, that anyone is comfortable with it,” Upmeyer told a meeting of Iowa editors and reporters at a news briefing at the Iowa Capitol hosted by the Associated Press.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Janet Petersen, Radio Iowa:
“My belief is the Medicaid situation is like a totalled car and I don’t know how you fix a totalled car,” Petersen said. “You can’t just slap a coat of paint on it and call it good.”

State Senator Tom Greene, The Hawk Eye:
“In my Senate district, I do not have one provider that has said this privatization has been a good thing,” said Greene, elected in November 2016.

State Senator Mark Costello, Des Moines Register:
Sen. Mark Costello, a Republican from Imogene who led the meeting, later said while he has frustrations with the privatized Medicaid system, he thinks those issues can be figured out without introducing a bill.

House Minority Leader Mark Smith, Des Moines Register:
“Because of privatization, Iowans are getting less care and have fewer options today,” House Minority Leader Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown, said in a speech on the floor of the House marking the first day of the legislative session. “… It is up to us to fix these problems this session — and quickly — before more Iowans die unnecessarily.”

State Representatives Gary Mohr, Cindy Winckler, and Monica Kurth, Quad City Times:
“There appeared to be bi-partisan agreement among Quad-City legislators Saturday that Iowa’s shift to private management of Medicaid has stumbled.”

“State Rep. Gary Mohr, R-Bettendorf, agreed there are problems with the Medicaid shift. “Right now, it’s a mess,” he said.”

Rep. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, complained that administrative costs under private management amount to more than when it fell to the state.

“That is not cost savings,” she said.

Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport, said other states have reversed course when they weren’t satisfied with the change.

State Representative Wes Breckenridge and State Senator Chaz Allen, Newton Daily News:
“It’s been a bad rollout and devastating to most of our providers who provide services in the Medicaid system,” Rep. Wes Breckenridge, D-Newton, said. “We need to make sure there’s oversight to those MCOs, we fix the system that’s in place or we go back to the state-run system.”

Sen. Chaz Allen, D-Newton, stated publicly he feels legislators need to create an oversight panel to monitor the situation. He’s not satisfied with the state’s efforts to fix the problem so far.

“They need oversight; it’s like the fox guarding the hen house,” Allen said. “Our communities can’t provide the services that they need alone. I want to see a legislature oversight panel that will look at this.”