[Pacg] Healthcare Reform Bill Passes in Iowa

[Carolina 1961]

*From the PACG Health Care Reform Forum*
*Karen Metcalf, **karencadfael at aol.com* <karencadfael at aol.com>


*IOWA HEALTH CARE FOR ALL COALITION*


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                Contact: Charlie
Wishman
April 25, 2008                                                        Phone
(Cell): 515-729-4711

       Contact:
John Hale

Phone: (Cell): 515-313-7766

Iowa Health Care for All Coalition Applauds Bipartisan work of Iowa
Legislature in Passing Health Reform Measures

Today members of the Iowa House and Senate approved a bill that would
broadly reform Iowa's health care system.  Improvements to child coverage
outreach will ensure more kids will be covered in Iowa than ever before, and
provides the state with a road map to covering all children in Iowa.

"This is a historic bill that is now on its way to the Governor to sign.
While there is much to build upon while we work towards coverage for all
Iowans, more kids will be covered in Iowa than ever before, and we as a
state will commit the resources to making it happen," said Charlie Wishman,
of Iowa Citizen Action Network.

"This bill creates a path to expanding coverage for adults, addresses the
emerging crisis in the supply of health and long term care workers, and
shifts the focus from treating people when they are sick to keeping them
healthy.  It's a bill that Iowans can be proud of," said John Hale of the
Iowa Caregivers Association.

"While this health care reform bill focuses on expanding coverage to Iowa's
children, we also applaud new options for expanding adult coverage that will
be available soon.  Attention needs to be paid to adults who are unable to
afford or who have been refused insurance because of other factors beyond
their control.  We've got work to do and we're looking forward to working
with legislators on that in the coming session," said Mary O'Brien of
Visiting Nurse Services.

"This is an exciting time for families in Iowa. We are so close to covering
all kids with affordable, accessible health care coverage. This bill
eliminates red tape and supports working families in securing necessary
health services for their children. Our work is not done, we now turn to the
task of implementing this legislation and the promises it makes to reach our
goal of covering all children by December 31, 2010," said Carrie Fitzgerald
of Child and Family Policy Center.

"This was truly a bi-partisan effort to get this bill passed.  This took
both Democrats and Republicans to work through these complex issues, and
with the input of stakeholders I think we've got a very good bill for the
consumers of Iowa," said Anthony Carroll of AARP.
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