KHN column: Answers from Iowa

In this Kaiser Health News column, Michael L. Millenson writes about insights one could gain from paying attention to what's happening in Iowa. "The Des Moines home of the Chicago Cubs' AAA farm team boasts of being 'one of the top minor league facilities in the country.' This might also be an accurate description of the State of Iowa's political status, in which its quadrennial presidential caucuses help determine who advances to the Big Show." Millenson continues, "[i]f this were a presidential election year, a recent report by the Iowa Committee for Value in Healthcare would be reaping a lot of attention. Its sponsors say they know the 'secret sauce' that allows Iowa to care for one of the highest percentage of 'old old' in the country on modest Medicare reimbursement and yet still score near the top of the nation on a slew of quality indicators (11/24). Read entire column.

---

This article is republished with kind permission from our friends at The Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery of in-depth coverage of health policy developments, debates and discussions. The Daily Health Policy Report is published for Kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Copyright 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.