Legislators address citizen concerns at legislative breakfast Saturday Taylor, Mitchell talk education, Medicaid and mental health reform

Sen. Rich Taylor (D-Mt. Pleasant) and Rep. Joe Mitchell (R-Mt. Pleasant) responded to citizens' concerns and questions at a legislative breakfast held at Iowa Wesleyan University on Saturday, Feb. 23.

The legislators discussed the $90 million in new money for Iowa's K-12 education, Medicaid privatization, and mental health reform.

Education

Gov. Kim Reynolds approved nearly $90 million in new money for Iowa's K-12 education system earlier this month, but Taylor said they could have done better.

'Our kids are our No. 1 resource, and I think we need to put more funding toward education on the lower end of K-12, and make sure every kid gets preschool,” Taylor said.

Taylor said $22.5 million of the $90 million for K-12 education comes out of the Area Education Agency's budget, 'so it's not completely new dollars.”

The $90 million allotted for education was 2.06 percent allowable growth, but Taylor said he was hoping to go up to 3 percent allowable growth, so schools could 'actually grow a little bit.”

'If we start with these kids earlier in life, get them excited about learning, we could pull a lot of these kids off this constant welfare merry-go-round they're on,” Taylor continued. 'That's where we're going to have to sit down, wake up and spend money at the bottom end so we have results at the top.”

Mitchell, who is new to the legislature this year, said the state also gave $7.8 million for K-12 transportation in rural school districts. While the closest school to Henry County that impacts is the Central Lee Community School District, Mitchell said it's important to continue to raise money for transportation, because it will eventually impact schools in the Mt. Pleasant, WACO, and Winfield-Mt. Union community school districts.

Medicaid privatization

A third Medicaid insurer, Iowa Total Care, a subsidiary of Centene Corp, will be the latest private company to administer coverage for one-third of the state's Medicare patients as of July. Taylor said they are nowhere near ready.

'Adding a new (insurer) and distributing the patients is going to put people into total chaos,” Taylor said. 'Most Medicaid patients are elderly or very young and a lot of them have mental health issues. All this is going to do is further confuse them. I think we're making a mistake to open it up to a third MCO (Managed Care Organization).”

Taylor said there are already more problems than the state can fix now, and adding a third MCO will only add to those problems.

'We've stuck our head in the sand and ignored the problem for three years. I believe we're going to continue to ignore it this year,” Taylor said.

Henry County Health Center lost $1.7 million in Medicaid non-reimbursements last year. Taylor said that is unsustainable.

'It's going to kill our small rural hospitals,” Taylor said. 'Henry County (Health Center) happens to be a county hospital, and the taxpayers help fund that … Your county taxes are going to pay for that. We're going to keep that hospital open.”

Mitchell referenced former state auditor Mary Mosiman's audit that estimated privatized Medicaid saved Iowa $126 million by the end of fiscal year 2018.

'I do think it made an impact fiscally,” Mitchell said, adding that he does think additional oversight is needed to ensure MCOs are paying providers in a timely manner.

'The Legislature understands the MCOs are not perfect, and we have to keep them accountable.”

Mental health reform

While Reynolds signed a bill last year that was poised to make changes to Iowa's mental health system, including adding six access centers across the state to help mental health patients, Mitchell said it's important to make sure there is adequate funding.

'This year, there's supposed to be $6 million new dollars for these mental health access centers,” Mitchell said.

The $6 million allotted toward the regional crisis centers last year was 'not enough to get the doors open,” Taylor said.

'I'm hoping we see some serious funding for that this year and for children's mental health,” Taylor said. 'We're pretty near 50th (in the U.S.) on mental health, so we're running dead last.”

As for children's mental health, Mitchell said the governor suggested $3 million be allotted to provide more education for teachers.

Taylor said teachers have enough on their plate. 'They are trying to raise our children,” Taylor said. 'I think we need more counselors in our schools. Get somebody there so the kids have someone who is trained properly.”

Other bills on the floor

Mitchell and Taylor discussed other bills they are working on in the House and the Senate.

In the House, Mitchell is working on bringing sports betting regulated and 'out of the shadows.” Mitchell said regulations could bring tax revenue that could be put toward education or health care.

He is also involved in a bill that would allow wineries to sell liquor. Mitchell said wineries are losing business because they are not allowed to serve liquor or mixed drinks at events.

'I think it's a good bill for some of our small businesses and wineries we have around southeast Iowa,” Mitchell said.

Finally, Mitchell said he will continue to work on criminal justice reform. Mitchell said he is working to get criminals who have a 'lower-level” drug defense out of the prisons and into rehabilitation.

In the Senate, Taylor said an agricultural hemp bill was passed last week, which allows farmers to produce hemp as an alternative crop.

Taylor said Iowa uses a lot of hemp in making clothing, drugs and 'all kinds of different things.” While they have been importing hemp into the state, Taylor hopes this bill will get farmers started in growing hemp locally.

Taylor was also involved in getting an immunity bill passed, which would allow people who are drinking underage to seek medical attention without repercussions.

'If you're at a college party and there's underage drinking and one of your friends happens to overindulge and gets himself into medical trouble, you can call 911 and help your friend out,” Taylor said. 'You don't have to worry it's going to hurt you. You're going to have amnesty for helping your friend.

'Though we don't encourage drinking, it does happen,” Taylor continued. 'We don't want to ruin a kids' life because he's trying to save somebody else's life. I'm sure we'll continue to get that passed and signed by the governor.

Finally, Taylor has introduced a 'dilapidated properties” bill. The taxing authority - city or county - can freeze a residents taxes for up to 10 years at the current rate if they agree to get the property up to code, Taylor said.

'It's just another tool counties and cities can use,” Taylor said.

The next legislative breakfast is Saturday, March 30, from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at Iowa Wesleyan University in Chadwick Library.