skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report Shows Rural Iowa Kids Depend on Medicaid

play audio
Play

Thursday, June 8, 2017   

DES MOINES, Iowa – The importance of Medicaid in small towns and rural parts of Iowa cannot be overstated, according to a new report from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

The research found that across the nation, a larger percentage of children in rural areas count on Medicaid compared with urban areas.

Anne Discher, interim executive director of the Child and Family Policy Center, says in Iowa it is 36 percent compared with 32 percent.

"The findings of this report really talk about what an important lifeline Medicaid is for children and families in our small towns and rural communities,” she states. “Forty percent of Iowans live in those communities and it just really shows how important Medicaid is for these communities."

The report says the data underscores the importance of preserving funding for Medicaid and related services as Congress debates the American Health Care Act.

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, calls Medicaid a crucial support for children, families, seniors and people with disabilities.

"Our nation's leaders face a really important decision on whether or not to cut Medicaid and turn their backs on the progress we've made in helping children and families,” she states. “That's so important for folks to understand that the Medicaid program is really the backbone of health insurance in these rural areas and small towns."

Discher says in some cases, Medicaid is the only health insurance option in small towns and rural areas that have not recovered from the recession.

"It's largely a function of economic opportunity and wages,” she stresses. “The incomes tend to be lower in rural areas and so Medicaid becomes a particularly important source of health insurance."

According to the report, the number of children on Medicaid living in rural communities in Iowa increased by six percentage points since 2009.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021