Taylor talks health legislation with Iowa Wesleyan nursing students

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

State Sen. Rich Taylor, D-Mt. Pleasant, told the Student Nurses? Association at Iowa Wesleyan University Monday, that he would attempt to reopen the Mt Pleasant Mental Health Institute (MHI).

The legislator, however, said that he doesn?t expect to be successful.

?I am going to try and put money in the budget this year to open the Mt. Pleasant Mental Health Institute, but money is tight in the state budget,? he told sophomore, junior and senior IWU nursing students.

Taylor said he feels ?it is so important to have mental-health services, not only for the patients, but for jobs and for you students. You can receive good training there. Education is one of my top priorities, and educational opportunities are so important for people wanting to better themselves.?

A year ago, IWU nursing students spearheaded an effort that resulted in over 11,000 signatures on a petition to keep the local MHI open. The students not only delivered the petition to Gov. Terry Branstad?s office, but also made a stop in the chambers of the Iowa Legislature.

Reflecting on the students? efforts, Taylor said it made a difference. ?Without you people coming to Des Moines last year, I wouldn?t have been able to get enough legislators to agree with me on keeping the MHI open.?

He said that even if money is appropriated for the Mt. Pleasant MHI and the governor would not veto the legislation to reopen the facility, it would take several years for it to reach the status it was prior to closing. Taylor also noted that a lawsuit is pending in district court to reopen the MHI.

?We were doing a great job out at the MHI,? he remarked. ?The dual diagnosis program was one of the best in the nation?Even if we would re-open it, how do we get the employees back? I know of many people who have moved on. It would take a lot of effort to re-open it, and it would take several years to take get it back to where it was.?

Taylor?s appearance at IWU was to update nursing students on health legislation and answer their questions.

The first-term senator noted that the legislature is rather stymied on health care ?because the governor can pretty much do what he wants to do in health care. Our only control is that we can withhold funding. But if we withhold funding, we aren?t hurting the governor, but the people.?

When asked about the state privatizing the Medicaid system, Taylor said he does not support the governor?s efforts. ?The governor said we could save $51 million, but when he was asked for proof, he couldn?t produce it. He just picked a figure out of the air,? the state senator commented.

The state ran the Medicaid system on a three-percent budget whereas the private companies will be running it on a 15-percent budget, Taylor claimed. ?So guess where the additional money is coming from? You.?

He remarked that 22 other states have privatized their Medicaid system. ?You can?t find one state where the system is better than it was under state control. It?s been proven that you can do things much better in-house than through privatization?Sure, there have been some problems in Medicaid, but it hasn?t been so bad that you have to shut down the entire system.?

He said he is one three senators sponsoring a ?Death with Dignity? bill. He was quick to say that the bill was not an assisted suicide bill. Rather, the person signs the form and gains a sworn statement from two physicians saying the patient is terminally ill and has a short time to live. The patient then takes two pills, a day apart, which leads to death. The bill, he said, has little chance for passage.

Taylor said he enjoys his service in the Legislature and tries to be a stand-up legislator. ?I pretty much tell people what I am going to do. I am going to do the right thing for the people I serve. I am sure I have made some people unhappy, but that doesn?t bother me because I am trying to do what I think is right.?

Student involvement in politics, he said, is very important. He urged students to email him with their concerns on health care legislation. ?It does make a difference. When you came up here twice last year, it made a big difference,? he said to the students. ?Legislators do listen.?