.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Count Iowa among the states that are tired of waiting for the federal government to address health-care reform.

That was the message health-care policymakers and administrators from across Iowa took home with them following last week’s forum, “Rebalancing Health Care in the Heartland,” held June 19 at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown.

The daylong forum, hosted by the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health, was sponsored by a number of Iowa’s major health organizations and insurers, among them Mercy Health Network, Iowa Health System, Principal Financial Group Inc. and Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The second in a series of three forums, last week’s event outlined reforms introduced in Massachusetts, Tennessee and Oregon and compared them with Iowa’s current system.

Earlier this month, the Commonwealth Foundation released a 50-state study that ranked Iowa second in the nation for the quality of its health-care system. However, an estimated 240,000 residents, or about 9 percent of the state’s population, lack health insurance. State policymakers say Iowa should use its relatively strong position to provide health insurance for more Iowans and address health issues such as childhood obesity.

The forum is one of several statewide initiatives moving forward this summer, which policy-makers say is evidence that Iowa is serious about addressing issues of access and affordability of health care.

The day following the forum, a group of legislators convened a commission on affordable health care at the Capitol. Authorized by the Legislature earlier this year, the Legislative Commission on Affordable Health Care Plans for Small Businesses and Families is expected to make recommendations on a plan to be introduced when the next legislative session begins in January 2008.

Iowa’s executive branch is also involved. Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, who spoke during the Rebalancing Health Care forum, called on Iowa residents to participate this summer in a series of town-hall meetings as part of her recently formed Commission on Wellness and Healthy Living. The commission is expected to focus on formulating a plan for promoting healthier lifestyles for Iowans in an effort to address high levels of obesity and related chronic diseases.

Sen. Jack Hatch, a Des Moines Democrat who co-chairs the legislative commission with Rep. Ro Foege, a Mount Vernon Republican, said having the health-care forum a day prior to its first hearing was “serendipitous.”

“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Hatch, who with Foege and other legislators participated in the forum. “Having this conference and the three states present what they went through in their health-care reform could not have been a better introduction to the [legislative] commission.”

Examining the efforts of states such as Massachusetts, which last year enacted legislation requiring health coverage for all residents, will be a key element of determining policies that could be applied to Iowa’s demographics and resources, Hatch said.

“States are laboratories in democracy, and that’s the philosophy that we’re taking into this,” he said. “That’s the essence of our mission: to try to find a plan that’s best for Iowa by listening to the states that have gone through it or are in the process of going through it.”

The third forum in the health-care series, to be held Dec. 3 and 4 in Des Moines, will feature the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates’ views on health care. For more information, visit www.rebalancinghealthcare.org.