(DES MOINES) - Gov. Terry E. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today sent a letter to President Obama and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, accompanying the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan waivers for federal approval.
The letter highlighted the bipartisan efforts in Iowa to design and implement the new Iowa Health and Wellness Plan, which is an Iowa-based solution for health care. The Iowa Health and Wellness Plan is an opportunity for the administration to demonstrate state flexibility in implementing health care reform.
In the letter, Branstad and Reynolds state:
Our plan passed with bi-partisan support and is designed to increase access, drive personal health ownership, and reform our health care delivery system to pay for quality, not quantity of health care delivered.
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The successful implementation of the IHWP is now in your hands. We want to be innovative and implement a program that improves the health of Iowans. We have been encouraged by our success in working with HHS, but our current Iowa Care waiver expires at the end of this year. Replacing the expiring Iowa Care program with the modern Iowa Health and Wellness Plan is of paramount importance to our state and our citizens. Any delays in approval may severely disrupt the coverage of many Iowans. We hope that you and your team will grant an expedited approval of our waiver requests so we can move forward on our bipartisan plan to improve health outcomes in a way that works for the State of Iowa.
The pair also extended an opportunity to meet on the waiver when they are in Washington, D.C., next month.
The letter is found HERE.
The Iowa Health and Wellness Plan waiver request will be posted HERE.
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