Iowa health insurance

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status report:
Iowa state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Iowa state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Iowa officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (2)

• Steve King
• Thomas Latham

Our
Pick

No (3)

• Leonard Boswell
• Bruce Braley

• David Loebsack

how healthy is living in Iowa?

Iowa is ranked as the 14th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Iowa was praised in the 2010 ratings for having a low percentage of the population uninsured (10.4 percent), a high immunization coverage rate (with 93.3 percent of children age 19 to 35 months receiving necessary immunizations), a low infant mortality rate (5.3 deaths per 1,000 live births), and a high rate of high school graduation (86.5 percent of 9th graders received their diplomas within their assumed four years).
• In addition, Iowa has seen a decrease in death due to cardiovascular disease over the past ten years, from 333.1 deaths per 100,000 individuals to 264.1 deaths per 100,000 individuals in 2010.
• Smoking has decreased from 20.8 percent to 17.1 percent of Iowa's population.

The bad news:

• Iowa's challenges include its high rate of binge drinking – 19.4 percent – and its limited supply of primary care physicians (only 84 physicians per 100,000 members of the population).
• Obesity has increased markedly in Iowa in the past ten years, from 12.8 percent of the population to 28.4 percent.

Iowa's best and worst category rankings:

• Poor physical and mental health days – 1st and 3rd, respectively
• High school graduation – 3rd
• Infant mortality – 5th
• Occupational fatalities – 39th
• Prevalence of binge drinking – 47th
• Primary care physicians – 47th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Iowa.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Iowa health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Iowa here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Iowa, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does Iowa have a health insurance high risk pool?

Health Insurance Plan of Iowa
Toll-free 1-877-793-6880 (M-F 8am-5pm CST)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Iowa started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Iowa's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find health insurance in Iowa

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Iowa and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Iowa.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Iowa health insurance guide

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Iowa.

Health insurance plan report cards for Iowa

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Iowa health insurance plan report cards.

Iowa government health insurance resources

Iowa Insurance Division Consumers Affairs Bureau – includes information on health care and insurance topics for consumers in Iowa.

Iowa Hawk I – Iowa's program to help families with low income provide health insurance for their children.

Iowa's Senior Health Insurance Information Program – can provide answers to questions on Medicare, Medicare supplement insurance, long term care insurance and other health insurance issues.

Iowa Medicaid Enterprise – government program to help the poor obtain health care services. Also eligible are pregnant women and children 18 and under who meet income requirements, along with aged, blind, and disabled individuals.