Premier Health Insurance of Iowa

08/12/2026

Iowa Awarded Federal Grant to Improve Rural Health Care

A federal grant coming to Iowa will mean $1 billion to improve health care access for patients in rural parts of the state, with $183 million devoted to cancer treatment and prevention services.

The funding comes as part of the federal Rural Health Transformation Program included the recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The program seeks to help rural medical providers become long-term access points for care by collaborating to create high-quality regional systems for primary and specialty care, as well as emergency services.

The program also focuses on attracting and retaining skilled medical providers in rural communities.

Iowa will receive $209 million for the first year to fund its Healthy Hometowns initiative focused on building health care partnerships in rural communities.

HF2743, approved with bipartisan support in the House this week, creates a specific state fund for those dollars.

"The Rural Health Transformation Program is a great opportunity for health care access in Iowa," said Rep. Heather Matson, D-Ankeny, during House debate on the bill. - National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors.

08/10/2026

Medica to Cancel ACA Health Insurance End of 2026

Medica has announced it will terminating all Affordable Care Act plans in Iowa at the end of 2026. Please note that all coverage will remain in affect until the end of the year. We will be reaching out to those affected by this in October.

https://premierhealthia.com/blog/

07/10/2025

New Affordable Care Act Changes

Below is a list of the proposed changes. Please keep an eye out for our newsletter as we will keep you informed if and when these changes are made.

The monthly Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for individuals under 150% Federal Poverty Limit would be discontinued - This change will restrict SEP eligibility unless the consumer experiences a Qualifying Life Event (QLE).

A new $5 monthly premium for fully-subsidized passive renewals - Consumers eligible for $0 premium plans who don't actively confirm their income may be required to pay $5/month until they verify.

Reinstatement of Failure to Reconcile (FTR) APTC eligibility restrictions - Consumers will become ineligible for advance payments of the premium tax credit (APTC) if they didn't file their taxes and reconcile their APTC for one year (current regulations stipulate two years).

Shorter Open Enrollment Period (Nov 1-Dec 15 for PY26) - The annual Open Enrollment Period (OEP) will be shortened to November 1-December 15 (currently OEP is November 1-January 15). These were the original dates when the Affordable Care Act was first put into place.

Resumption of SEP pre-enrollment verification - If the Marketplace can't verify your Special Enrollment Period, you may lose eligibility to enroll outside of Open Erollment. You will need to ensure you have proper documentation to avoid SEP verification issues.

06/07/2024

President Biden Limits Lower Priced Term Health Insurance Plans To Last Only 3 Months

https://premierhealthia.com/blog/

04/08/2024

President Biden Moves Forward To Limit Individual Lower Priced Non-Affordable Care Act Options:

President Biden Moves Forward To Limit Individual Non-Affordable Care Act OptionsPlease note we are not making political statements, we are simply stating what has happened and how it will affect our customers.As we previously wrote about, President Biden's proposal to limit Allstate and United Heal...

08/08/2023

https://premierhealthia.com/blog/

Dan Walterman Invited To Discuss Healthcare.gov in Washington D.C.: On May 24th, Dan Walterman was invited to Washington D.C. by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS), along with a handful of other advisors, to discuss Healthcare.gov and the Affordable Care Act. Dan was able to bring forth some of the issues many of our clients have expressed concerning the Affordable Care Act operations. Although Dan has been invited to discuss these topics multiple times before, this is the first time the Biden Administration has invited any advisors to discuss their focus and agenda.

05/16/2023

GlicRx Issues Statement Reiterating Customer Privacy: GlicRx provides prescription discounts much like GoodRx. However, unlike GoodRx, they do not sell your personal health data. As we reported in our February Newsletter, GoodRx was fined $1.5 million for violating customer privacy. If you would like to enroll in the FREE prescription discount card through GlixRx, you may do so HERE:

Get your free discount card and save up to $95 on your prescriptions.

04/13/2023

Wellmark Sends Out Incorrect Medical Cards: Wellmark Blue Cross sent out 1,140 incorrect insurance cards. You will be receiving a new insurance card if your previous card was incorrect. Please make sure to use the new card and NOT the old card.

04/07/2023

Medicare Has Breach of Protected Health Information

Medicare Breach of Protected Health Information: Not surprisingly, as with many federal agencies, a breach of privacy occurred with Medicare's outsourced Medicare eligibility and entitlement records processing company, Healthcare Management Solutions, LLC. Because of this, Medicare will be mailing new cards to those affected. Protected information involved in the breach include:

Name
Address
Date of Birth
Phone Number
Social Security Number
Medicare Beneficiary Indentifier
Banking Information
Medicare Entitlement, Enrollment, & Premium Information

10/28/2022

Inflation Reduction Act and What It Means To Healthcare:

There is a lot going on with this Act, but we will stick to the healthcare side only. Foremost it has maintained the increased Affordable Care Act tax credits per the American Rescue Plan Act. Without continuing these tax credits, those on Affordable Care Act "Obamacare" plans could expect to see 10- 200% premium increases this fall. Here's a few other points of what it affects:

The enhanced premium tax credits, which eliminated the subsidy cliff and increased the tax credit amount for people at all income levels, will continue another three years. That means that clients receiving financial assistance won’t see a big price increase this fall.
Medicare will be able to negotiate drug prices, which should help save some seniors money.
Medicare Rx out-of-pocket costs will be capped at $2,000.
Lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on capping insulin costs for people with private health insurance.