Governor's health policy adviser claims ignorance about Medicaid problems

Service cuts to Iowans with disabilities under privatized Medicaid prompted a 2017 lawsuit, became a central theme of the 2018 governor’s race, and were a featured problem in an annual report from the state ombudsman.

Yet in a meeting with advocates last week, Governor Kim Reynolds’ health policy adviser said she is unaware of major problems for patients trying to obtain essential services.

The Arc of Iowa, a state chapter of a a “national community-based organization advocating for and with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” requested the meeting with Liz Matney. For more than three and a half years before joining the governor’s staff in June, Matney led the Iowa Department of Human Services bureau for MCO Oversight & Supports, making her the state’s top official overseeing the private insurers that manage care for nearly 700,000 Iowans on Medicaid.

Matney met with Arc of Iowa’s executive director Doug Cunningham, board chair Delaine Petersen (whose daughter has multiple disabilities), and board member Michael Wood on August 26. According to a news release from the organization, enclosed in full below, the representatives shared stories about people who have lost access to services or had those services reduced since Medicaid was privatized.

Read more: https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2019/09/04/governors-health-policy-adviser-claims-ignorance-about-medicaid-problems/