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State Issues from Tom Sands

News from the Hill…

The Myth of Cost-Free Medicaid Expansion….

It is a myth that expanding Medicaid doesn’t cost Iowa taxpayers any money because the federal government pays 100% of the expansion.  That is false and it is a myth propagated by proponents of Medicaid expansion.

Expanding Medicaid the way some have proposed has two fundamental problems:

1-It costs more every year for the same services.

2-It doesn’t make Iowans healthier.

Currently Iowa has 400,000 people enrolled in Medicaid.  The FY 14 estimate is that this will cost $1.2 billion in state dollars which is $88.5 million more than last year.  This cost grows every year because the number of Iowans who qualify grows, if expansion is approved or not.  Since 2000, Medicaid enrollment has gone up 88% and Medicaid expenditures are up 226%.  With or without Obamacare, the cost of Medicaid is going up.

Additionally, there are between 52,000 and 81,000 people who qualify for Medicaid but are not enrolled.  The cost of providing Medicaid to these Iowans over the next seven years is estimated at between $327 million and $564 million of additional state funds.  Under Obamacare, these people have to be enrolled in Medicaid because they are not eligible to receive health insurance.  The state is required to pay for these people at the current rateThese people ARE NOT among the new enrollees which the federal government promises to cover at 100% for three years.  Once again, the cost on Iowans goes up again.

Finally, you have 150,000 people who will become newly eligible for Medicaid under Obamacare.  The federal government promises to pay 100% of the cost for these people for three years.  After three years, the federal share decreases.

I believe it is irresponsible and foolhardy to believe the federal government will live up to its funding promises. Just last week the U.S. Senate decided to repeal one of the key revenue generators for Medicaid expansion when it repealed the medical device tax.  With that revenue stream gone, the feds are forced to find it elsewhere.  A logical and easy place to go is lower the percentage they will reimburse states for the newly-eligible Medicaid recipients.

It is a myth that expanding Medicaid doesn’t cost the hardworking taxpayers of Iowa any money.  Medicaid costs are going up, even if it’s not expanded.  But Medicaid is going to cost EVEN MORE if we DO expand.

We need an Iowa solution.  Right now we have a Medicaid program that people on both sides of the aisle believe is broken.  That broken system treats Iowans over and over for the same chronic diseases and the same medical issues while Iowa taxpayers keep paying for it, over and over.  At the same time, none of these Medicaid recipients are getting healthier.  Without an outcomes-driven program, like the Governor’s Healthy Iowa Plan, we have no hope of containing costs or making Iowans on another Medicaid program healthier.

Once Iowa decides to jump into Medicaid expansion with both feet, there is no backing out.  The Supreme Court reaffirmed our right to decide if we want in, but it also did not stipulate a right to leave once we’re in.  Regardless, this would leave needy Iowans out in the cold – we need an Iowa program now.

The hardworking taxpayers of Iowa are not interested in ceding control of the fastest growing portion of the state budget to Washington, DC.

The Governor’s Healthy Iowa Plan has three goals:

Improve the quality of careprovides a benefits package similar to private care that includes in and outpatient services, physician services, prescription drugs, home health, durable medical equipment, therapies and some transportation.

Lower costs:  implements personal responsibility mechanisms that have worked in other states and the private sector to encourage members to be cost-conscious consumers of health care as well as healthy behaviors.

Make Iowans healthierrewards health care providers for helping make Iowans healthier.

“Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.” – Ronald Reagan


For more information on these and other bills:  www.legis.iowa.gov

-Tom Sands

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Burlington Iowa Obituaries West Burlington

Obituaries

Scott Reid Samberg, 57, of Burlington, died Thursday, March 28, 2013

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Burlington Iowa Letters to Falcon West Burlington

Will Rogers’ Timeless Quotes

Falcon,

These quotes by Will Rogers are as true today as they were back in the 20s and 30s only the players have changed.  The quality of our president and congress is 3rd world at best and continues to fall dragging us all down with them.

The president and the congress create our problems themselves and then run for reelection by running a campaign to clean up corruption and poor government in Washington, just a vicious circle with no end.

People sure are unhappy with Congress. Gallup says its approval rating is at 14 percent — the lowest ever. The timeless wit and wisdom of Will Rogers explains why:

•     “Congress is so strange; a man gets up to speak and says nothing, nobody listens, and then everybody disagrees.”

•     “We all joke about Congress, but we can’t improve on them. Have you noticed that no matter who we elect, he is just as bad as the one he replaces?”

•     “When Congress makes a joke it’s a law, and when they make a law, it’s a joke.”

Rogers spoke these words in the 1920s and 1930s, but they’re just as true now. When voters put Democrats in office, they voted for change — voted for an end to partisan yapping. But the yapping has gotten worse.

They also voted for Democrats to end the sloppy, arrogant, fiscally irresponsible ways of Republicans, but Democrats were happy to pick right up where the Republicans left off.

As for jokes that are laws and laws that are jokes, is anybody happy with Congress’ immigration reform initiatives?

Of course there’s nothing new about the shenanigans of Congress:

•     “We cuss Congress, and we joke about ’em, but they are all good fellows at heart, and if they weren’t in Congress, why, they would be doing something else against us that might be even worse.”

•     “Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do nothing, they don’t hurt anybody. When they do something is when they become dangerous.”

That is for certain. There are some nutty ideas floating around in Congress, but so long as they never become laws, no harm is done. And because our government is divided, thank goodness it’s hard for either side to ram any agenda through.

And the country usually runs better when Congress is unable to get things done.

Rogers saved some of his best barbs for the Senate, the allegedly august body of distinguished minds that is supposed to snuff out bad ideas and bills and advance good ones. Though even during Rogers’ time, things hardly ever turned out that way:

•     “About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.”

•     “Senators are a never-ending source of amusement, amazement and discouragement.”

•     “The Senate just sits and waits till they find out what the president wants, so they know how to vote against him.”

I’m amazed that Rogers could describe Sen. Harry Reid some 70 years before Reid became Senate majority leader. Reid truly is a fellow who is “not as narrow-minded as he forces himself to be.”

That’s what is most agitating about our Congress. Too many members on both sides of the aisle are narrow-minded, partisan and looking to advance their self-interests.

The average American doesn’t like that. The average American knows that the country is facing giant challenges — entitlement programs that are going to bankrupt us, radicals who want to blow us up, spending that has spiraled out of control …

The average American wants these problems to be solved by people who are interested in the good of their country — not Republicans and Democrats interested in the good of their parties.

It’s no wonder we are disgusted. Of course, that’s nothing new either:

•     “It’s getting so if a man wants to stand well socially, he can’t afford to be seen with either the Democrats or the Republicans.”

•     “There is something about a Republican that you can only stand him just so long; and on the other hand, there is something about a Democrat that you can’t stand him quite that long.”

We can only hope our Congress begins to comprehend what the American people have been trying to tell it — that it needs to get in step with the wisdom and will of the people.

And that “our country is not where it is today on account of any one man. It’s here on account of the real common sense of the Big Normal Majority.”

FS

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Burlington Fort Madison Iowa Obituaries West Burlington

Obituaries

Ina James Brown, 87, West Point, died Thursday, March 28, 2013

Donna Mae McCoy, 74, Burlington, formerly Fort Madison, died Thursday, March 28, 2013

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Burlington Iowa News West Burlington

CDC Report: 110,197,000 Venereal Infections in U.S.

Click Here: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports there were 19.7 million new venereal infections in the United States in 2008, bringing the total number of existing sexually  transmitted infections (STIs) in the U.S. to 110,197,000.

Virus

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Burlington Iowa Obituaries West Burlington

Obituaries

Karlene Kay Lange, 73, Burlington died Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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Burlington Iowa Nature News Political West Burlington

Eagle killed by wind farm brings federal scrutiny

Click Here:  The wind farm could face a fine of up to $200,000 because it does not hold a federal “take” permit that would allow the incidental death of a golden or bald eagle.

Windmill1

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Burlington Iowa Obituaries West Burlington

Obituaries

Margaret Mary Anderson, 89, Burlington, died Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Dorothy Maxine Harwood, 74, died Monday, March 25, 2013

Billy Jo Sturms, 37, of North Carolina, formerly Burlington died Sunday, March 24, 2013

Robert “Bob” Antone Korf, 60, Burlington died Sunday, March 24, 2013

Karla Christine Pepmeyer, 47, Burlington died Friday, March 15, 2013

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Burlington Iowa News Political West Burlington

Homeland Security Buys MORE Hollowpoint Ammo

Click Here: DHS To Buy 360,000 More Rounds of Hollow Point Ammunition

Arms build-up continues as Congress demands answers
BulletsHomelandSecurity
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Burlington Danville Iowa Obituaries West Burlington

Obituaries

Lillian I. Pentzel, 85, Burlington, died Saturday, March 23

John “ Jack” Joseph Dailey, 73, Burlington, died Friday, March 22, 2013

Phoebe Madaline Lamb, 89, Burlington, formerly Sperry, died Thursday, March 21, 2013

Jerry Jonathan Saldeen, 71, Burlington died Thursday, March 21, 2013

Russ “Half-Pint” Osborn, 59, West Burlington, died Thursday, March 21, 2013

James Rexford Anderson, age 43, Burlington, died Thursday, March 21, 2013

Irene Burcham, 93, formerly of Burlington, died Wednesday, March 20, 2013