Northwest Iowa (Radio Iowa) — Many area children are in danger of being uninsured because their families may be unable to buy individual insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act’s exchange next year. Statewide, the number is about 11-thousand, according to Iowa Senate Democrats.
Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, is calling on Republican Governor Kim Reynolds to approve a stop-gap plan for the parents to get insurance for those children.
Petersen’s proposal would let those parents buy private insurance through the state-run HAWK-I program. The program currently subsidizes insurance for about 60-thousand children who live in a household where the yearly income is at or below three-hundred percent of the poverty line. Petersen says federal bureaucrats would have to grant Iowa a waiver to implement the stop-gap proposal she’s offering for 11-thousand more Iowa kids.
Medica is the only insurance company that plans to offer individual insurance policies on the state’s Affordable Care Act exchange in 2018 and the company has warned premiums will jump 43 percent. Iowa’s insurance commissioner has offered a plan that might lessen the premium hike, but federal officials have to provide a waiver for his proposal, too. A spokeswoman for the governor says Reynolds is focused on getting Trump Administration approval of the insurance commissioner’s proposal so the adults AND children involved will be able to get private insurance coverage next year.
Above Photo: Des Moines Pediatrician Amy Shriver with Senator Janet Petersen
