Josh Turek represents Council Bluffs and parts of Carter Lake in the Iowa State Legislature.
As the only permanently disabled representative in the Iowa Legislature, I feel a great responsibility to represent the voice of the 15 percent of Iowans with disabilities. To fulfill this responsibility, I would like to provide you with “State of the State for Iowans with Disabilities.” Frankly, Iowa is not a good place to be a disabled person.
All three Republican parties in the Iowa House, Senate and Governor’s office have directly attacked the disability community in their opposition to public services. I believe this attack is the result of true ignorance that people with disabilities have no direct representation in state government. This, and of course the most important factor, is that privatized health care has a focus on maximizing profits at the expense of providing quality health care. Over the past few years, politics and the culture wars have been the top priority for the Governor and many lawmakers, while Iowans with disabilities have been ignored.
The biggest problem for Iowans with disabilities is healthcare. Iowa currently has 20,468 people with disabilities on the waiting list for Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services, and that number is growing by 1,000 people each year. The longest waiting list is for the intellectual disability waiver, which currently has a six-year wait period and takes an additional 14 months to qualify. Iowans with disabilities wait for services such as personal care, cooking meals, and important home repairs and renovations. While they wait, they often go without care and end up paying for services out of pocket, being taken to the emergency room, or being admitted to expensive facilities. Years of underfunding have greatly exacerbated this problem. Most states have set aside funds and resources to eliminate the waiting list. Iowa’s waiting list is one of the longest and continues to grow.
Iowans with disabilities also face barriers to employment. Iowa ranks 47th out of 50 states in median income for workers with disabilities. Only 15% of permanently disabled Iowans are fully employed. This is primarily due to the state’s severe restrictions on Medicaid eligibility. Currently, Iowans with disabilities who receive Medicaid are severely limited in income to poverty and limited in total assets to $12,000, or $13,000 if married. Above this amount, they lose all health care benefits. This discourages marriage, employment, and career advancement, forcing this minority group into poverty. It is unfair to have to choose between basic health care and earning a living wage, getting married, and owning a home or car. Many other states are moving to a system with no income or asset limits for people with disabilities. Iowa is leaving people with disabilities in poverty and unemployment.
In addition to outdated and poor quality disability policies, the state legislature has recently made things worse. Governor Kim Reynolds’ bill to defund and dismantle the AEA would eliminate critical services for children with disabilities and special education needs. Last year, Republicans passed a bill that would make it more difficult to receive SNAP food benefits. In Iowa, 46.7% of SNAP recipients have a person with a disability in their household.
Additionally, last year the Legislature voted to transfer vocational rehabilitation, which provides employment and education services to Iowans with disabilities, from the Department of Education to the Department of Workforce Development. Now, there are long waiting lists for the department’s services, and some programs have been discontinued due to the change. Worst of all, the denial of wheelchair and medical services to people with disabilities has increased by at least 850% since our state’s health care has been “managed” by MCOs. There are many other issues affecting people with disabilities that I would like to talk about here.
Clearly, the situation for people with disabilities in Iowa is terrible, and it’s not going to get better unless Iowa focuses on helping people, not politics and profits.
Josh Turek represents Council Bluffs and parts of Carter Lake in the Iowa State Legislature.