By: Jessica Rae
jrae@kcautv.com
A decision needs to be made regarding the future of medical care in the state of Iowa.
Right now you have two options, Medicaid, or Iowa Care. Iowa Care is a medical coverage for folks who make too much money to qualify for medicaid, but Iowa Care is only a centralized program. This means someone in Sioux City cannot just walk in to Mercy, Saint Luke's, or Siouxland Community Health and receive care that is covered; they have to go to Des Moines or Iowa City.
President and CEO of Mercy Medical Center, Bob Peebles says, "We do not believe Iowa Care is the answer, if we would at least expand Medicaid it would give these individuals access to care they could come to Mercy, they could come to Saint Luke's, they could go anywhere."
Roxanne Merrill is from Estherville Iowa, and when she was in need of surgery for a medical condition she was sent to Iowa City.
After being told she could not receive care in her home town, Roxanne had to drive five hours before she was able to consult a doctor for her condition.
Merrill says, "That is a lot of time, a lot of money, and like I said we go there and we spend that money, and we're making it just week by week to pay on that."
That's not the only time Roxanne had to make a trip in order to receive medical care. Roxanne kept track of every trip.
Merrill says, "Now this year alone for the last 12 months we've had Iowa Care, we've had to make 15 trips to Sioux City, just our primary care, five trips to Des Moines, and we had 8 trips to Iowa City so far."
Roxanne also suffers from sleep apnea. She says Iowa Care paid for testing to be done, but she says they wouldn't cover any further costs of equipment she needed.
Merrill says, "I guess I would like to see us to have a physician to take care of us when we're sick."
If Iowa chooses not to expand Medicaid, those federal tax dollars will go towards the expansion of Medicaid in other states.
