Providers Fear Iowa Cuts

DES MOINES — The state government's plan to privatize Medicaid services includes a new payment system that organizations helping people with physical, mental or developmental disabilities say cuts their reimbursements enough that it could force smaller organizations to close and leave people they serve scrambling to find needed services.

The providers include mental health centers and organizations that serve the most vulnerable adults and children in Iowa who rely on Medicaid for treatment, assisted living, behavioral programming and improving day-to-day living skills. These services often are used by people with brain injuries or those born with physical or intellectual disabilities.

Iowa Official Fears 'Disaster' with Move to Medicaid Managed Care

Iowa Senate President Pam Jochum said Thursday she's worried that vulnerable Iowans face a "disaster" as the state implements a cost-saving plan to hire a private business to manage the Medicaid health insurance program.
Jochum, a Dubuque Democrat who has an adult daughter with severe developmental disabilities, said her family has the financial resources to care for her daughter if necessary. But she feels obligated to speak on behalf of other Iowa families who don't have enough money to care for their loved ones if Medicaid services aren't available.

Iowa Teen With Cerebral Palsy Crowned Homecoming Queen

One very special young woman was crowned homecoming queen at Waverly-Shell Rock Senior High School in Waverly, Iowa, on Sept. 23.

“The student body enjoys Courtney being around,” Jeremy Langner, the school’s associate principal, told GoodMorningAmerica.com. “She really embodies the community as well, with her love for learning and the passion for being a Go-Hawk. On a daily basis she brings the right attitude.”

Those are typical characteristics for someone you’d expect to earn the coveted homecoming queen title, but for Courtney Tharp, 17, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was only nine months old, this shining moment meant more to her than the other members of the homecoming court.

'Not Throwaway People'

BURLINGTON, Iowa -- Ginnie Hager might fall through the cracks.
For the past four years, Hager, 33, has lived at the Walton Group Home, a residential care facility in Burlington overseen by the nonprofit group Hope Haven. She lives there with 11 other clients, all of whom have a variety of disabilities.
Since Hager was a baby, she has suffered from epileptic seizures. Last week, she had one that lasted 10 minutes. There have been times when she has woken up on the floor with black eyes and no memory of the convulsions that came before.
Functional, but unable to drive or perform other tasks due to her disorder, Hager requires near 24-hour care because a violent seizure can take hold of her body at any moment.
She gets that care at the Walton Group Home, along with a job at Goodwill and a healthy social life that might not otherwise be available to her.
By the end of September, that might be taken away.

History has not Been Kind to Iowa's Disabled

A fascinating timeline of the history of care for the developmentally disabled in Iowa. It's amazing to see how much things have changed for the better.


Building boom of mental institutions in 1800s
1861: The first patient was admitted to the Iowa Lunatic Asylum in Mount Pleasant.

1867: The Iowa Legislature established the Asylum for Feeble Minded Children in Glenwood. It eventually became the home for thousands of children and adults with developmental disabilities.

1873: A portion of the Iowa Hospital for the Insane in Independence is opened, though it took 10 years for construction of the entire institution to be completed.

1885: The state’s third mental hospital was built in Clarinda to relieve crowding at the first two facilities. It housed only men.