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AARP: Praises 2010 Iowa General Assembly for improving health care
3/31/2010

For Immediate Release

Contact: Ann Black, 515/707-1287

Anthony Carroll, 515/707-2722

AARP Praises 2010 Iowa General Assembly for Improving Health Care;

Disappointed by Failure of Protections for Heating Fuel Delivery for Low-Income Older Iowans and

Stealth Passage of Hospital Provider Tax

DES MOINES, March 30, 2010 ─ AARP Iowa applauds the great steps this General Assembly took to improve health care in Iowa. AARP supported three passed bills, which will improve different components of our Iowa health system:

* SF 2201 -With Representative Janet Peterson's amendment H 8578 added to this bill, Iowans can expect more sunshine into the process by which health insurance companies raise premiums for individuals and small groups in Iowa.

* SF 2356 - Regionalizes IowaCare – Iowa’s system for providing care for low income and under-insured Iowans, so that for the first time, IowaCare patients won't have to travel hundreds of miles to Iowa City to receive care. The bill also creates an Iowa Insurance Information Exchange to help Iowans make informed choices regarding health coverage. The bill also emphasizes improving coordination in caring for diabetics in Iowa.

* SF 2526 -Begins to address Iowa’s impending nurse shortage by centralizing nurse workforce data and creating scholarship programs and other incentives for nurses to become nurse educators.

AARP was also pleased that Iowa's Health and Human Services budget protected funding for identified unmet home and community needs of older Iowans by not making cuts to Iowa's Senior Living Program.

“In this tough economic climate, AARP applauds this General Assembly for not putting tough budget decisions on the backs of funding for vulnerable older Iowans,” said Bruce Koeppl, AARP Iowa State Director.

However AARP Iowa was disappointed that in another area, our state leaders failed to protect older Iowans and other vulnerable rural families from the risk of freezing to death or other severe health consequences associated with lack of heating fuel during the winter. SF 2235 would have required propane companies and other home heating fuel delivery vendors to deliver propane to customers who have the money to pay for that fuel (either their own funds or through the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) ) during the winter months of November 1 through April 1.

"We know that the overwhelming majority of Iowa's home fuel vendors go out of their way to make sure older Iowans and other families aren't at risk during the winter. But that makes the practice of those few vendors who discriminate against low income Iowans, even with money, more inexcusable," said Koeppl. "SF 2235 was a common sense solution to minimize the growing problem of winter fuel delivery denial that exposes paying rural Iowa families to health risks, which for older Iowans can include death."

AARP was also disappointed in the last minute introduction and passage of SF 2388, the hospital "provider tax." AARP strongly believes in adequate reimbursement for Iowa hospitals, and has worked with hospital and consumer groups in other states in the process of creating hospital assessment fees, but SF 2388 lacked any consumer group input into the process and in the bill language itself. As a result, the bill lacks any real accountability or oversight on how these new federal dollars will be spent.

To learn more about AARP’s efforts during the legislative session or to get involved with AARP, call the AARP Iowa State Office toll-free at 1-866-554-5378 or visit http://www.aarp.org/ia.

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, the definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world's largest-circulation magazine with over 35.7 million readers; AARP Bulletin, the go-to news source for AARP's millions of members and Americans 50+; AARP Viva, the only bilingual U.S. publication dedicated exclusively to the 50+ Hispanic community; and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.




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