Plan to fix ailing Medicaid budget moves ahead

Nearly a quarter of a million Iowans are signed up for government-paid medical insurance through the Medicaid program — 40-thousand more than officials expected. That’s created a 61-million dollar shortfall in the program, and a plan to plug that hole cleared a House Committee yesterday. It’d require a two-dollar co-pay for prescription drugs. Medicaid patients pay a buck today. It would also limit dental coverage to “preventative” services. Representative Steve Warnstadt of Sioux City thinks it’s a bit silly to pay to clean teeth, but not pull a rotten one.Legislators have tossed out a plan which would have cut Medicaid payments to doctors, hospitals and nursing homes by over 13 percent.