Connie warkins daughter jessie, they also delivered a diagnosis. 38 22 i had seen people that were downs syndrome, but i didnt really understand what it was about. That was 32 years ago, when help for people with intellectual disabilities wasnt easy to find. 54 00 forty years ago organizations like cottonwood were just beginning. Cottonwoods mission is simple. 56 57 we help people live their life. We help them work each day, we help them go about their routine day. A routine. 1 19 30 ths perry, vernon, mary. Thats introduced jessie to coworkers she also calls friends. 01 24 55 shelby but cottonwood is more than a community. For jessie, its her job. 01 27 21 oh yes, i like my job. Today, shes adding the ribbon cards, earning cash for each card. Once shes done, a cottonwood bus will drive her to one of the groups apartments. Which she shares with coworkers. Its longterm, Community Based care that jessies mom relies on. 42 56 it eases my mind a lot. But at the states capitol, home and Community Based services are at the center of a messy medicaid battle. 23 01 15 i cared for medicaid patients, i had to bill through medicaid. Kansas representativ e Barbara Bollier is a retired doctor. She says putting private Insurance Companies in charge of care shifts the focus to dollars instead of people. 22 53 57 the numbeeone priority should always be the patient, not the money. When things start moving toward only focusing on money, i worry. Worry senator Laura Kelly Kelly sits on the kancare oversight committee. But lawmakers have little power to oversee the operations of private companies. Instead, the committee is more of a listening post hearing complaints from people or companies with little power to help. But kelly says the politicians on the committee dont even understand the medicaid system. A problem she says iowa can avoid. 22 42 17 put people who are actually out in the trenches doing this work who can then ask the questions, or interpret the data in a way that makes sense in their world, and provide that for legislators who can then set the policy. Kelly also worries for the thousands of people who use home and Community Based services. Theyre an expensive population. In iowa, that group cost the state more than 622 Million Dollars last year alone. But its care that cant be 22 37 27 there is no way to save money with those programs unless you absolutely deny entrance into the program, you cut back on services, or you pay the providers less. Inside kansas hospitals. 23 48 27 it was overwhelming for us. Administrators say the system is confusing. 23 55 43 learning all the different requirements the three mcos ask of us, it was difficult at first. And then once you feel like you can manage that, they begin to change and give us different requirements. You are continually trying to stay on top of the new rules. Nats of calculator that confusion leads to more denied claims, forcing providers here to hire more staff. Ultimately costing hospitals more money. But its also hurting services to patients. 02 55 there was one line of we just stopped doing because we could not figure out what the mcos wanted. The Iowa Department of side is where mcos here are looking to cut costs through outcomes like fewer er visits and coordinating multiple types of care in one visit. Cottonwood but at places like working where medicaid is a lifeline for jessie. 37 25 shes my girl. And thousands more. Jessie cuts are already starting. While we were visiting cottonwood, the agency got its first notice an m co saying it would no longer cover a patient there after a review. Saying the level of care was too much. People here say speaking up before the switch may be the only solution. 01 11 48 i would say advocate, keep your advocacy voice strong. To protect the lives of people who cant speak up for themselves. 01 14 00 shes got a good life, and thats our goal for everyone here, we about 25 thousand iowans need the same home and Community Based Services Like the ones jessie relies on, but theyre just a small fraction of iowans who rely on medicaid. We do know that all three companies are losing millions of dollars right now, meaning they are looking to cut costs. It also raises a bigger concern if the mcos keep losing money and decide to leave, the state may be left with no one to manage its medicaid program. I also spoke with a representative of providers like cottonwood across kansas, who says mcos arent equipped to manage home and community services. Look for that extended interview under this story on kcrg dot com. The governor announced a new program this morning that aims to help iowans be healthier and reduce expenses for medicaid and medicare. Six organizations, including linn county public health, received grants totaling 1 point3 Million Dollars as part of the state innovation model initiative. The goal of this initiative is to reduce iowas obesity rate and tobacco use, while also iowans out of the emergency department. These federal dollars also aim to decrease Health Care Costs and improve Health Outcomes through a National Effort by the center for medicare and medicaid innovation. The university of iowas interim Public Safety director is in trouble for not cooperating with officers during a drunken hitandrun incident involving his stepson. Court records show dave visins stepson, sean carter, was drunk when his truck hit two cars outside of a bar on june 25th. Visin picked up carter and drove away from the scene, and he refused to pull over when police tried to stop them. Visin claims he didnt know anything about carters collision. He dropped carter off at a gas station and left before police got there. Iowa Workforce Development decided that people who were overpaid Unemployment Benefits two years ago wont have to return the money. A faulty phone system caused nearly 16hundred people to receive the nearly 434thousand dollars. It all happened over the first three months of 2014. Iowa senator bill dotzler, whos on the Workforce Development board, says trying to collect the money now would result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney and collection fees. An audit shows the overpayments were part of more than 900thousand dollars the state lost to scams and errors over three years. Were hoping its a blip, and were hoping next year we get students back one small Eastern Iowa School district is dealing with declining enrollment and steep budget cuts. Thats next here on kcrg one small Eastern Iowa School district is preparing to make some big cuts. The Highland Community School District in riverside is preparing to cut its budget by 500 thousand dollars. The superintenden t blames the projected cuts on declining enrollment and not enough state funding. The superintenden t says pretty much everything is on the table for possible cuts. That includes the possibility of closing this Elementary School in ainsworth. The districts also considering cutting teachers and administrator s. One parent with two children in the highland district says the leaders must keep kids in mind throughout the budget process. The number one focus needs to be, what to do with these kids, and what is going to be the least detrimental to these children, and the least disruptive. Abby sojka says she plans to move her kids district next year because of the budget issues. Final budget decisions should come next month. Vandals in lisbon literally painted the town. Police think vandals spray painted these phrases on two Lisbon School buildings, sometime between february 20th and 21st. Two downtown businesses were tagged too, d and d body shop and hills bank. The chief thinks theyre all connected. He says security footage from the school suggests there were multiple vandals. The city says it can be tough to prevent crimes like this in small towns because of a limited police force. Kids get bored. People dont have anything to do and theyre out. You can run the streets a little bit easier in small towns than you can in big Cities Police say they dont have any suspects, but do have some leads. Call linn county Crime Stoppers if you have any info. The hawkeye Mens Basketball Team fell in this weeks ap poll. Basketball state tournament kicked off today in des moines. Snow and a wintry mix develop late this evening in the north and spread southward through the night. A dusting to two inches looks likely south of highway 20, although amounts will quickly increase near the highway 20 corridor with localized totals higher than amounts taper off near the minnesota border. Snow ends early on tuesday, with another chance of snow arriving thursday. Highs stay close to freezing this week, but warmth builds once again this weekend and beyond. Today m cloudy, falling temps high 4248 winds nw 1525tonight snow and wintry mix low 2127 winds ne 1525tomorrow chance of snow early high 2632 winds n 1020low 1117 winds nw 510wednesday mostly cloudy high 37 low 14 thursday chance of light snow high 35 low 27 friday partly cloudy high 37 low 22 saturday partly sunny high 46 low 28 sunday partly cloudy, mild high 59 low 34 monday partly cloudy high 65 we are getting ready for on iowa live in just a few minutes over on kcrg 9. 2. We have a great show tonight the legend dan gable is here to talk about the big 10 championships this week in iowa city and the olympic trials. He will be joined by 2 time ncaa champ mark ironside plus the state champion alburnett wrestling team. It should be a great show. To hoops and the hawkeyes fell to 16th in the ap poll today after their Third Straight loss yesterday at ohio state. The cyclones are ranked 21st in todays ap poll and they are hosting okey state on senior night. I will have highlights at 10 00. The girls state basketball tournament tipped off today in des moines. John campbell has highlights. The orioles responded by the breakout to maddy wagaman. How about the inside presence of mikayla nachazel. Springville by 6 at the break. The birds upped the lead to 14 on the feed to rylee menster. She also hit some key free throws at the end and springville knocks off Kingsley Pierson 6053 thanks in part to 24 points from nachazel. She is a dynamic post player. She can use both hands. Footwork both ways the trojans took control early. Emily busta from long range. Sadie nymeyer plugs the meter. Before half Shelby Reicks slices the mt, ayr defense. 3325 at the break. It was a 2 point game with 2 mins to go and reicks comes through again from the field and from the line. She had 17 and Turkey Valley holds off my ayr 5551. On a roll i try my best to make things happen by driving or getting other people open. Kee highs state tourney debut not as memorable. Courtney cooper connects and their 9 pt halftime lead was down to 2. They were still on top on the fourth when mykayla gavin is ther for the outback. But Burlington Norte Dame opened things up. Riley mcbride rainbow three. Later emma lynch inside and the nikes knock off kee high 5551. John campbell tv9 sports and finally its time for a special edition of johns big ol fish. Batting leadoff on our first feb 29 big ol fish since 1988 is lily rundall of marion and her ellis park bluegill. Now it is karter duffy and the huge dcrappie he nailed at rush lake. Young mason jedlicka of dubuque observes the 28 inch sheephead he caught with grandpa cat. Travis cave caught the 12 pounder at lake belva deer. Aj vallee of dubuque landed this beautiful rainbow at heritage pond. Aiden mcnamer was also there with grandpa meyer. Way to go buddy ro. The young man on the left, Charlie Schrader caught this 29 inch walleye. Dad rick and sister catie along for the ride. Another walleye gage walshire of olin nailed it in the wapsi. And wrapping up this historic leap day big ol fish is hunter hamer who broke his pole catching this lunker. Until our next leap day big ol fish in 2044, this is John Campbell reporting. We hope youll be with us again tonight at ten. Tt2watv 4 bt qq if you cant get me to stop eating your food, what makes you think you can get me to stop using your wifi . I believe that youre capable of great change. Like when i finally got you to stop saying valentimes day. You want to hear Something Weird . Sure. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul ii was named an honorary harlem globetrotter. What are you talking about . You asked penny if she wanted to hear Something Weird. Yeah, because i have Something Weird to tell her. Oh. I thought it was a game. Whats yours . Theres this guy, jimmy speckerman, who used to torment me in high school. He sent me a message through facebook. Hes in town and wants to have drinks. Okay, penny, if it were a game, here are your choices. An email from an old acquaintance, or the head of one of the largest religious institutions
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