Thorup prioritizes mental health, Medicaid changes in first leg session
Newton Daily NewsDec 27, 2018
Exchanging his blazer for a baggy Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirt, the statehouse newcomer reclined back in his seat in the dining section of a
Thorup said his legislative priorities are largely influenced by the comments he has received from constituents.
Mental health
Conversations with voters on the campaign trail convinced Thorup mental health is not only a top priority for
People in HD 28, which includes
Citing a mostly bipartisan mental health bill signed into law by Gov.
but there is still room to enhance services and other factors relating to the subject. For instance, Thorup said he has a particular interest in addressing children's mental health situations. Identifying those issues early on in a person's life, he said, offers "a much better chance for them to have a long and productive future ahead of them."
By no means is it the only area
Thorup also has concerns about patients who are "very hard to place in a facility," especially those with potentially violent or at risk behaviors. He said these particular individuals often find themselves "bouncing around the system" or have no place to turn to for help.
"A lot of times those people end up maybe going to jail for a while or get released and then they're back out on the street and the cycle continues," Thorup, a career state trooper, said. "That would be something that I'm particularly interested in figuring out what to do and then putting that into some kind of bill."
Medicaid oversight
In October, Thorup told the
Two months later, during his
"There's also discussion about removing some of the LTSS or long-term support services," Thorup said. "Medicaid recipients that are in that classification, there's talk about maybe carving them out. But it's super early. I guess anything is on the table at this point."
Thorup said discussions with his constituents the two major problems with the Medicaid Managed Care Organizations are lack of services or lack of reimbursement for services accessible prior to the privatization two years ago. In a lot of cases, he said, the assistance people need is "not unreasonable." Not a single person, Thorup claims, approached him during the campaign or since who "discussed a service they had been denied now that was out of the realm of reason."
Thorup said he would also like to see more patient advocacy, whether it come from the
"Getting them services is a lot easier if people know there is a problem with that recipient," he said.
Public safety
One of Thorup's personal legislative priorities is concerns involving public safety; a topic, Thorup admitted, "means a whole lot of things." The HD 28 rep claims the scope of violence in
Thorup also highlighted concerns involving human trafficking and the shipping of narcotics across state lines. The state, he said, does not have criminal enforcement team anymore that "goes out proactively on the highways and tries to find that type of activity."
Drawing attention to the opioid epidemic, Thorup worries the type of heavy opioid-related activity in
Thorup said he'll also push for more funding for
If the technology has improved and costs have decreased, Thorup said
"I'd like to see some of those high level, really serious violent crimes investigated further," Thorup said. "...To me there's nothing more important than preventing more homicides because a lot of times these people will kill again. If they get away with it once, what's to prevent them?"
Describing himself as someone who is open to any kind of positive reform, Thorup said he is always willing to add improvements to programs and bills so long as there are good ideas to support the action. When it comes to
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