The eleventh week of session has come and gone. Next week is the second legislative deadline known as the second funnel. By the end of next week, any bills currently being considered must be through the committee process in the opposite chamber of origination or they are out of consideration for the remainder of this session. This week we had a number of visitors at the Capitol. Members from our local Farm Bureaus and members of the Iowa Pork Producers made their way to Des Moines to meet with their legislators, just to name a few.Improving health care access, quality, and affordability has been a priority since I was elected. In 2016, a large portion of my constituents voiced their concerns on the out-of-control health care costs and insurance rates. While at the state level we didn’t appear to have much control, I never gave up looking for solutions. Over the last four years, I had intently looked at the pros and cons of Iowa’s Certificate of Need laws. After much analysis and many discussions, it became clear this law needed to be reformed.CON laws were mandated in 1974 by the federal government, but twelve years later the federal government repealed the law. Not only did they repeal the law at the federal level, they asked the states to also consider repealing their CON laws. By this time, the protectionist laws became hard to repeal at a state level. However, as the rise in health care costs and limited access to types of care became reality, more states are abandoning or significantly reforming their CON laws.Fifteen other states have repealed or amended their CON laws since the federal policy was repealed in 1986, including California, Texas, Utah, Idaho, Kansas, and South Dakota, because they have not been effective in controlling costs or improving access to services.On Wednesday, I floor managed and the Senate passed Senate File 506 to reform Iowa’s Certificate of Need law. Certificate of Need (CON) was a federal policy designed to assess the needs of health care facilities in a community and help improve access to care, while controlling costs by avoiding duplication. In Iowa this expanded to not only include the physical location of a facility, but also the equipment and services provided at that location.Senate File 506 reforms Iowa’s CON law so it no longer applies to community mental health facilities, birth centers, and rehabilitation facilities. Institutional health facilities, like hospitals, nursing facilities, residential facilities, and ambulatory surgical centers, would still be under CON with targeted regulations. Under this bill, institutional health facilities would not need to apply for CON to replace equipment, buy new equipment, or change services.This bill changes the state’s role in how it oversees health facilities grow in our state. According to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Iowans would likely see lower health care spending per capita, lower physician spending per capita, and potentially see an increase in facilities, especially in rural areas. Health care access, cost, and quality services are something we hear about from our constituents often, and we have been working hard to ensure Iowans have access to the care they need, when they need it. This bill is one way we can help Iowans and our rural communities by easing government regulations and not endlessly pouring more taxpayer money into health care.
