On Thursday, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price was in Grinnell discussing Reynolds’ failures in managing mental health system.
“What does it say about us as a state when we leave the most vulnerable of us behind? That is what Governor Reynolds has done,” said IDP Chair Price. “Whether it’s privatized Medicaid or lack of funding for mental health services, we continue to see how the misplaced priorities of this Governor are hurting Iowans. It is unacceptable that she continues these policies that are literally killing people.”
Kim Reynolds has cut $4.3 million from Iowa’s Department of Human Services, the departments that manages mental health services. These cuts come as Governor Reynolds’ privatized Medicaid mess has forced mental health facilities to close, cutting off access to mental health care for thousands of Iowans, particularly affecting those in rural communities.
Under the Reynolds-Branstad administration, fourteen medical and mental health facilities have been shut down due to lack of funding from the state and private health insurers or by the administration themselves. Five of these facilities were closed due to a lack of funding from Reynolds’ disastrous privatized Medicaid program, including the Central Iowa Family Planning Clinic, which served nearly two thousand patients.
In one instance, three long term patients in a Clarinda hospital died after being transferred because the facility was closed.
According to a report from the Treatment Advocacy Center, Iowa only has 64 mental health beds for adults, putting us dead last in the nation for emergency mental health services.
“We’re having to drive hours away, to Davenport or Omaha to get these folks the care they need. We’re using taxpayers money one way or the other, we might as well get them the help they need. If we had more hospital beds, we’d have less people in jail, plain and simple,” said Tom Kriegel, Poweshiek County Sheriff.
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