State legislators hear concerns on mental health, Iowa Tuition Grant
Forest City SummitFeb 20, 2018
"Schizophrenia is not something that is going to be stopped with a brief stay in some intermediary facility," she said.
Friday said she knew one young woman who couldn't get the help she needed and eventually committed suicide.
"That broke my heart," she said.
Sen.
However, Guth said the chairman of the health and human services committee in the
Friday also asked about the privatization of Medicaid in
Rep.
"I hope we can turn the corner on this," he said.
In
The residents were moved into supported group homes in the community.
However, the state is slowly cutting the 24-hour care that some of those individuals can't get along without, according to Hansen.
"They need the support in their homes to stay safe and to stay healthy," she said.
Managed care organizations for Medicaid require justification for 24-hour care for each individual, but case managers don't look at their history beyond the last 30 days or so, according to Hansen.
This means the MCOs don't take into consideration issues -- such as behaving in a sexually-inappropriate way toward others in public -- the individuals had longer ago than a month, she said.
"It's dangerous for them. It's dangerous for people in the community," Hansen said.
She also noted the MCO case managers often live in other areas of the state and aren't as familiar with the people as
Rep.
Iowa Tuition Grant
Waldorf President
The Iowa Tuition Grant is a financial aid program for in-state students attending private colleges and universities in
Alsop said Waldorf, which became a for-profit institution in
When the funding for that pool was reduced, it meant Waldorf students received less in Iowa Tuition Grant money than those attending private colleges such as Luther and Wartburg that are non-profit but are otherwise similar to Waldorf.
Alsop said one legislator he spoke to thought Waldorf was "a storefront in a mall" and didn't know it's a liberal arts college with athletics and renowned musical performance groups.
Gassman said Waldorf being classified with cosmetology schools is "a bunch of malarkey." He said he will ask to have Waldorf put in the same pool as the state's other private colleges.
Alsop noted Waldorf is accredited by the
Backfill
Smith said small, rural communities will be particularly hard-hit if the backfill is eliminated because they aren't experiencing the massive growth of more urban communities such as
Gassman said both he and Baxter have "made a fuss" in the