Republicans held a news conference of their own about Medicaid, to say the reimbursement inequity is not all the doing of the G-O-P in Congress. State Republican Party chair Chuck Larson said they’re rolling out a series of radio ads about Dick Gephardt’s voting record. He says Gephardt’s from Missouri, but is “not a good neighbor.” Larson says Larson says it costs Iowa almost a billion dollars a year and says congressman Jim Nussle got a bill through the House Ways and Means committee that would have increased their reimbursement rate by five-percent over three years for states like Iowa. Larson calls it election-year politics, saying the Medicare reimbursement difference has been in effect for all four of Governor Vilsack’s years in office but he hasn’t brought it up until this election year.
