Iowa Health Insurance

How healthy is living
in Iowa?

Iowa is ranked as the 20th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2012 America's Health Rankings® from the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Iowa has a relatively low percentage of children in poverty and a relatively high graduation rate.
• Preventable hospitalizations have dropped over the past 10 years.

The bad news:

• After a stable period in the 2000s, Iowa's ranking has been steadily dropping. Indicators show that this downward trend is likely to continue.
• Among adults, 23.1 percent reported binge drinking within the past 30 days.
• Almost 30 percent of Iowa's adults are obese..

Iowa's best and worst category rankings:

• Poor Physical Health Days – 2nd
• Poor Mental Health Days – 3rd
• High School Graduation – 5th
• Infectious Disease – 46th
• Primary Care Physicians – 46th
• Binge Drinking – 48th

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.

Non-profit sources of health insurance information for Iowa

• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's mission is to provide simplified public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access coverage. Here is its guide on how to find health insurance in Iowa.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking the progress of health insurance reform in each state. Its page for Iowa can be found here.
• The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers. Search for Iowa health insurance plan report cards.

Iowa state 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 – children’s health —  Iowa’s program to help families with low income provide health insurance for their children.

Iowa Medicaid Enterprise —  A 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.

Iowa’s Senior Health Insurance Information Program —  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.

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