Two reports out this weekend removed all doubt that Reynolds’ for profit takeover of Iowa’s Medicaid System is a complete failure that is only going to get worse if Reynolds is allowed to keep pushing her extreme, conservative agenda.

“Over a fifth of Iowa families are struggling to get critical health care because Kim Reynolds would rather use our families as a political piggy bank than solve the problem she created. It’s time to abandon these ideological experiments and Democrats stand ready to put our tax dollars back towards providing quality, affordable care for the people of Iowa,”said Iowa Democratic Party Spokesperson Tess Seger.

HAVE YOU SEEN THESE COST SAVINGS?

The Reynolds’ Administration’s entire political justification for their sale of Iowa’s Medicaid program to for profit companies was cost savings, but now, Reynolds can’t even prove that she’s saving money at the expense of services for Iowa families:

CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE: State of Iowa has no data to support Medicaid savings claim, health care official says

“As Iowa Medicaid Enterprises Director Michael Randol continues to assure lawmakers and the public that the state’s managed-care model is saving money, the Iowa Hospital Association contends the director has no data to back up the claim.

And as the dispute continues, Iowa hospitals say the state is saving money because the Medicaid insurance companies are not adequately reimbursing health care providers for their services — including a Vinton hospital that says it is owed $90,000 in emergency room visits alone.”

“Norris of the hospital association said DHS and the managed-care organizations don’t have any reliable data on primary care visits. Instead, there is plenty of anecdotal information from families who are unable to receive primary care services to which they routinely had access before Medicaid privatization, he said.”

“WE’RE IN MORE TROUBLE”

Even with AmeriHealth Caritas in the mix, Reynolds’ Medicaid takeover was still failing to provide working Iowa families with lifesaving care. In the wake of AmeriHealth’s departure, Reynolds truly scraped the bottom of the barrel to find a new provider to buy in to her disastrous system:

DES MOINES REGISTER EXCLUSIVE: Iowa’s new private Medicaid manager has paid millions of dollars in penalties in a dozen states

“The corporation selected to help manage Iowa’s controversial privatized Medicaid system has faced serious charges of mismanagement resulting in at least $23.6 million in penalties in more than a dozen states, a Des Moines Register investigation shows.

Iowa Total Care, a subsidiary of Centene, was awarded a state Medicaid contract in May by the Iowa Department of Human Services despite scoring nearly 14 points lower on its evaluation than when it had applied and was rejected in 2015, public records show.”

“ ‘If history teaches us anything, then this is an indication that we’re in more trouble,’ said Sen. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, a privatized Medicaid critic whose grown daughter is disabled and uses the program.”

“ ‘My advice for Iowa is to watch out,’ said Matt Peterson, a medical equipment provider and chairman of the Great Lakes Homes Medical Equipment Association. ‘If the state of Iowa is just going to abdicate its oversight responsibilities, then it’s not going to go well for Iowa citizens.’ ”

DENTAL DISASTER

More bad news for Iowa families looking for affordable care, the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, which served 10,000 Iowans last year alone, announced that they would no longer be accepting new Iowa Medicaid patients because of the insufficient and delayed payments and confusing rules caused by Reynolds’ failed Medicaid privatization disaster.

DES MOINES REGISTER: UI dental school to turn away new Medicaid patients because of low payments, confusing rules

“The University of Iowa’s dental college plans to turn away new patients covered by Iowa’s Medicaid program because of frustration over low payments and increasingly convoluted rules, university officials said Thursday.”

“Kanellis, the University of Iowa associate dean, wrote Wednesday that many other dental clinics around the state have stopped accepting new adult Medicaid patients because of the changes. That puts more strain on the dental college and increases patient waiting lists, he wrote.

‘We are hearing from patients statewide who are not able to access dental care even for emergencies in their home town. Twice we have heard from relatives of patients who claim they have had to rely on street drugs to manage their dental pain,’ he wrote.”