DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal authorities have not signed off on Iowa's low-income health care expansion because they do not like the use of premiums in the plan, Gov. Terry Branstad said Thursday.

Branstad met with federal officials in Washington this week to urge them to provide a waiver enabling the state to receive more federal Medicaid money for the proposed Iowa Health and Wellness Plan, a new health insurance program that would cover as many as 150,000 residents.

Branstad said the program calls for eventually charging some small premiums that are intended to serve as health incentives. He said participants can avoid the charges if they complete certain health goals.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.