Handed over to three private Healthcare Companies and will no longer be run by state government. But lawmakers in the senate still want to stop that from happening. Today senators debated on a bill introduced by democratic senator pam jochum that would stop the privatization of medicaid in iowa. 11 18 15 so heres it folks we have a chance today to say, stop. Lets start over. Lets come together as iowans we did that on the iowa health and wellness plan we can do it perfect; its not. But it doesnt need this. 01 24 the Senate Debated and passed the bill 29 to 19. It had support from just three Senate Republicans. They agreed the privatization efforts were moving too fast. Governor branstad introduced the with the january 1st. But the federal government stepped in, noting the program wasnt ready, and delayed that start date to march 1st. Governor branstad says privatizing medicaid will save the state as much as 51 Million Dollars in the first six months. The majority of Senate Republicans