The meeting room at Panora Telco was packed with constituents for a final legislative coffee event of 2019 in Guthrie County.

State Senator Jake Chapman (R) and Representative Ray Sorensen (R) received questions and comments from the public on issues such as managed care organizations (MCO) and UnitedHealthcare pulling out of privatized Medicaid in Iowa. Chapman stated that perhaps we could go back to state-run Medicaid with a third party administrator. Participants asked whether flood damages would affect next year’s budget, and Guthrie County Conservation Director Joe Hanner asked the legislators for their assistance in addressing structural issues at the Lenon Mill Dam. Sorensen comments on how these legislative coffee events have gone during his first session in the legislature, “It evolves just as the session evolves, it evolves just as different issues come up through just like the MCO deal. You know with UnitedHealth(care) leaving, obviously that was sort of an issue but people were kind of coming around on the MCO’s, and then now when they pull up stakes and leave obviously that pulls that from last place to first place in the issues being brought up at a forum.”

Chapman and Sorensen also commented on bills that stalled this year but could move further in the next session, such as restoring felons’ voting rights.