Gov. Chet Culver called on the legislature Monday to approve a series of health care initiatives that will improve access to health care while lowering costs to Iowans.

“We must expand access to health care, lower health care costs and work toward the goal of giving all Iowans access to the same quality health care guaranteed to elected officials,” Culver told reporters at his weekly press conference.

Culver said he is confident that the federal government will soon commit to a universal health care plan, but until that happens, it is important for the state to do everything in its power to ensure that Iowans are covered.

“While I am optimistic we will eventually see some progress on this issue in Washington over the coming years, I believe there are some things we can do at the state level to make it easier for Iowa families to get quality health care,” he said.

Culver said his four-point proposal should be palatable to both Democrats and Republicans in the statehouse.

His proposal includes:– Requiring insurance companies to allow Iowans who are leaving a group health insurance program to acquire individual programs. Currently, some Iowans with pre-existing conditions are denied coverage or are forced to pay extremely high rates and endure long waiting periods.
– Creating uniform requirements that would allow parents to provide health coverage to their unmarried dependents until they reach the age of 25. Culver argues that because these dependents have already been factored into the rating system used by insurance companies, the change will allow them to acquire their own coverage at a later date either individually or through an employer plan.
– Capping annual rate increases for long-term, health-care insurance at 12 percent per year as a way to allow senior citizens the ability to make plans for increases in costs. The proposed legislation would allow the state insurance commission to waive the cap if market conditions would make the limits an unreasonable burden on insurance companies.
– Creating an electronic medical-records council to develop a plan for a statewide health information network by 2009. Similar networks have been proposed by politicians for years, but only a handful of states have made progress on such initiatives.

President Bush proposed a uniform medical records program in January 2005 and many of this year’s presidential candidates in both major parties told Iowans they were in favor of similar plans during the lead-up to the caucuses.

Policy makers say the creation of a medical-records database would unburden doctors and other medical personal from the avalanche of paper that contains patient information. In addition, electronic records would reduce administrative costs by as much as 20 percent and decrease the chance of medical error when information is inaccessible, inaccurate or illegible.

In Nevada, an electronic record-keeping system has allowed patients to become more involved in medical care. Patients in that state access lab tests and other records, review bills and make appointments over the Internet.

Culver said part of the costs of creating the electronic system would be borne by a grant that the Iowa Hospital Association and Iowa Health Systems has received from the federal government.

Access to health insurance is already better in Iowa than in most states, Culver said. About 94 percent of Iowa children and 90 percent of adults are covered. His budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year proposes adding 7,500 more low-income children to the state’s health insurance program, known as Hawk-I. In addition, the state has mounted a public relations campaign to attract more participants to the plan.

Hawk-I, an acronym for Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa, is part of the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and is Iowa’s effort to make affordable health insurance coverage available to children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid, but too low to afford private family coverage. If a family’s income meets certain guidelines, and the family does not qualify for Medicaid, the uninsured children may be eligible for coverage under plans sponsored by several state-based insurance companies.