The state Iowa health insurance program, Iowa Care can only be used at the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City or at Broadlawns Medical Center in Polk County. The program allows for poor adults who don’t qualify for Medicaid to receive Iowa health insurance. Currently, there are 35,000 members and this is double what the state originally expected.
The question is whether or not to allow patients to receive routine care at clinics and emergency care at hospitals around the state. This will in turn double the costs and the state simply cannot handle the extra expenditures.
Currently Iowa is having challenges meeting its current obligations with Hawk-I, another state Iowa health insurance program that is larger than Iowa Care.