Medicaid

Iowa is seeing a critical gap in dentists who take patients with Medicaid coverage according to the dental director of one of the state’s community health centers.

Thousands of people have been mistakenly dropped off Medicaid and CHIP since the Spring. System glitches are behind this undue massive loss of coverage.

Nursing homes provide a vital service for those who cannot live independently, but in Iowa, finding the right nursing home care can be incredibly challenging.

A report by the March of Dimes found 33 of Iowa's 99 counties have no OB/GYN and no birthing hospitals or birthing centers.

Iowa Health and Human Services officials said around 120,000 Iowans have been disenrolled since the start of Medicaid unwinding in April. About three-fourths of those have been for procedural reasons.

For two years, federal funds have been available for states to extend postpartum health care from two months to a full year for moms on Medicaid. The policy is popular across the Midwest, with Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska all adopting an extension. Iowa remains hesitant.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law Thursday that puts new limits on public assistance programs that help low-income Iowans access food and health care.

Policy experts say one way to help close the racial gap in maternal health outcomes is to ensure people on Medicaid don’t lose coverage two months after pregnancy.

Republicans in the Iowa House sent a bill to the governor’s desk Thursday evening that would deny food assistance, known as SNAP, to households that have more than $15,000 in assets. That amount doesn’t include a home, one car of any value, and a second car worth up to $10,000.

The end of COVID-19-era Medicaid benefits could impact millions of low-income Americans.