Iowa Bill To Increase Health Insurance Coverage For Children

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver (D)on Tuesday signed into law a bill (HF 2539) that provides an additional $25million over the next three years to extend coverage to more than 50,000uninsured Iowa children, the AP/ChicagoTribune reports. The law also sets the goalof establishing universal health coverage for all state residents within fiveyears. In addition, the law:

• Allows children to stay on their parents' health plans until age 25;
• Establishes a medical records task force to study expanded use of electronic health records; and
• Establishes standards to reduce the rate of childhood obesity in the state (Glover, AP/Chicago Tribune, 5/14).

Theprovisions included in the bill were based on recommendations by a bipartisancommission that was appointed by Culver to study improving health insuranceaccess (Beaumont, Des MoinesRegister,5/14).

In related news, Culver on Tuesday signed into law a $1.2 billion health andhuman services budget (SF 2425) that includes a 1% increase in Medicaidprovider payments. According to the AP/Tribune, the increase willgenerate $5.1 million to fund an increase in nurses' salaries (Glover, AP/ChicagoTribune, 5/14). The bill also provides $5.5 million for hospitals tooffset their Medicaid costs, according to Culver (Des Moines Register,5/14).