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House Journal: Page 2118: Friday, April 28, 1995

GOVERNOR'S ITEM VETO MESSAGE
A copy of the following communication was received and placed on
file:
April 27, 1995
The Honorable Leonard Boswell
President of the Senate
State Capitol Building
L 0 C A L

Dear Mr. President:

I hereby transmit Senate File 462., an act relating to
appropriations for the Department of Human Services and the
Prevention of Disabilities Policy Council and including other
provisions and appropriations involving human services and
health care and providing for effective and applicability dates.

Senate File 462 is, therefore, approved on this date with the
following exceptions which I hereby disapprove.
I am unable to approve the designated portions of Section 3,
subsection 10, paragraph e. These items would require the
Department of Human Services to implement a plan to pursue
reimbursement for pharmacy services from third-party payors by
May 1, 1996, and to include the administrative costs of adopting
this new policy in the department's proposed FY 1997 budget.
While I support asking the department to explore the feasibility
of a "pay and chase" policy to recover the costs of pharmacy
services, it would be premature to direct the department to
implement the policy before a plan is even developed. Further,
implementation of such a policy will result in costs to the
Medicaid program which have not been included in the funds
appropriated to the department for FY 1996.  Also, the
requirement that the director include the costs of implementing
the policy in the department's FY 1997 budget requests goes
beyond the authority the legislature has in the budgeting
process, and for that reason can not be approved.

I am unable to approve the item designated as Section 3,
subsection 14, in its entirety. This item would require the
Department of Human Services to seek federal approval to develop
a new program to pay persons, including relatives, to provide
care in their homes for elderly individuals who are currently
residing in nursing homes. In recent years, several very good
programs have been established to provide alternatives to
nursing home care for Iowa's elderly.  As a result, the elderly
who are entering nursing homes are doing so only after they have
become so frail or infirm that alternative services are no
longer appropriate. I am concerned that because this proposal
targets the elderly who have already been placed in nursing
homes, it has the potential of encouraging abuses of the
Medicaid program and perhaps even of elderly Iowans who are best
cared for in the nursing home setting.  I urge the Department of
Human Services to continue to work with the Department of Elder
Affairs to develop alternative services that are cost effective
and that address the needs of Iowa's elderly citizens.

I am unable to approve the item designated as Section 10,
subsection 11, in its entirety. This item utilizes a budgeting
gimmick to shift funds from one area of the Department of Human
Service's budget to another, the result of which reduces the
department's flexibility to design delinquency and child welfare
services and creates

Iowa General Assembly

Index: House Journal (76th General Assembly: Session 1)

© 1995 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

Comments? hjourn@legis.iowa.gov.

Last update: Sun Jan 14 21:05:02 CST 1996
URL: /DOCS/GA/76GA/Session.1/HJournal/02100/02118.html
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