Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
The Iowa Dept. of Human Services is expected to gain an extra $115 million more come July 1st, thanks to the passage of the cigarette tax this past March in the legislature as well as the creation of a Health Care Trust Fund.
The cigarette tax legislation created the standing appropriation to the Dept. of Health and Human Services as part of an effort to began expanding insurance coverage to many Iowans, particularly low-income families and children who are not covered.
This year’s deposit to HHS is $127.6 million in sum, with $115.4 million going directly to Human Services for Medicaid purposes as well as expanding hawk-i coverage and outreach. Hawk-i covers low-income children of citizens and is designed to supplement Medicaid by covering children whose family’s income is above the Medicaid limit but below the hawk-i limit.Governor Chet Culver campaigned on an “Insure Iowa” health care initiative while running for election in 2006. Some of the fundamental aspects of his health initiative rested on the funding to be received from the cigarette tax increase, it seems as if the full reach of the initiative was not taken up by the legislature.
As I reported last week, the cigarette tax already markedly improved state revenues in April and if the revenue increase continue at a relatively stable (or even slightly declining pace) the state will still make an additional $300 million in revenue. However, only $127 million is being dedicated to expanded health care coverage, making it hard to implement other prongs of Culver’s campaign plan. The rest of the revenue generated will go into the General Fund of the Iowa Legislature.
Some of the largest additional allocations inside HHS will go towards combatting the increasing services costs for those on Medicaid. Of the $115 million to Human Services alone, $42.48 million is allocated for increased Medicaid service costs.
On the other hand, outreach and efforts to enroll more people who are not insured is also strongly budgeted for. Over $5 million is allocated for increased enrollment to ‘independent young adults’ and ‘Medicaid-eligible children.’ In addition, $3.6 million is allocated for increased hawk-i outreach and enrollment efforts.
In an era where campaign promises never seemed to be filled, it seems like the Democratic trifecta on Capitol Hill is sure trying to start to follow-through.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter