Council Bluffs State Representative Josh Turek introduced a bill in the Iowa legislature that he calls "right to repair." That term is often used by the ag community — referring to farm implements — but in this case, it refers to a bill meant to help individuals with disabilities.
- Turek says it takes too long for people using wheelchairs to get their devices repaired through insurance companies, including Medicaid.
- Iowa, like many states, privatized it's Medicaid system. Claims are handled by Managed Care Organizations and Turek says they all have different requirements for wheelchair users who need to get repairs and it takes too long.
- Pharmacist and healthcare business owner, David Kohll, says the system of repairing medical equipment worked better before Medicaid was privatized.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
For folks needing their wheelchair repaired, it’s not as simple as going to your neighborhood store and getting a quick fix. I’m your southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel and a Council Bluffs state representative is trying to make that process a little bit easier.
Council Bluffs representative Josh Turek uses a wheelchair. He says it’s too difficult to get a wheelchair repaired.
The Health and Human Services Committee in the Iowa House unanimously approved Turek's disability bill this week, including the provision he calls the “right to repair.”
Private insurance and Iowa's privatized Medicaid organizations would have to reduce hazardous wait times for wheelchair repairs.
Turek: “In the meantime, while we are delaying this for weeks or months at a time, individuals are getting skin breakdowns, pressure sores and urinary tract infections ... and ultimately, just causing unnecessary pain and suffering from already a vulnerable population. Again, this is just redundant, unnecessary bureaucracy.”
David Kohll, pharmacist and business owner, serves Nebraskans and Iowans. He says it’s not always hard, but Iowa's switch to privatized Medicaid hasn’t helped.
Kohll: “I will say that it was a lot smoother when the Medicaids operated their own Medicaid system ... with the managed care organizations they seem to have a lot of turnover ... I'm not sure the state’s saved money or not by going to managed care organizations because if the care’s compromised for a patient, then sometimes the hospital bills go up because a person’s in the hospital more.”
Also in this bill is a provision about Medicaid qualifications. Proponents of the bill hope that tying the two issues together will help it pass the House and see.
Katrina Markel, your southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter.
