Senate fails to override insurance bill veto

The Iowa Senate tried but failed to over-ride the Governor’s veto of a bill which clamped down on the state’s major insurance company. Hospital complaints about WellMark’s heavy-handed pricing policies promped the legislature to respond. Senate President Mary Kramer, a former WellMark administrator, said the bill was needed.Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson says it’s not a Democrat/Republican issue, it’s a hospital issue.Just a handful of legislators voted against the bill when it cleared the House and Senate, but Governor Vilsack vetoed it. Bill supporters said it assured consumer choice, but opponents, like the Farm Bureau and labor unions, said it would raise insurance costs.