Iowa Gov. wants state workers to pay for part of health care

This pair of stories from the Des Moines Register, based on a meeting with Gov. Terry Branstad, details Branstad's plans for state employees' health benefits and efforts to develop a state alternative to the health law.

Des Moines Register: Branstad: State Employees Must Pay For Health Care; Predicts Obama Will Fail In Iowa
Iowa's state employees would be required to pick up 20 percent of their health care costs under a demand Gov. Terry Branstad will make during union negotiations this year, he said today in a meeting with The Des Moines Register. If successful, it would cost state workers roughly $46.3 million a year. Most state employees currently pay nothing in health care premiums (Clayworth, 6/12).

Des Moines Register: Branstad Working On 'Obamacare' Alternative
Gov. Terry Branstad said Tuesday that he has been working with leaders from the insurance and hospital industries to form an Iowa alternative to President Obama's health-reform plan. "We've had kind of a working group that's been looking at this for a long time," Branstad told Des Moines Register writers and editors. The governor said the state has several advantages, including that it has a history of providing high-quality, low-cost care and that relatively few of its residents lack health insurance (Leys, 6/12).