First Look at Iowa's Medicaid Expansion: How Well Did Members Transition to the Iowa Health & Wellness Plan from IowaCare

This study assessed consumers as they began the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan -Iowa’s Medicaid Expansion Program. It is one of the first evaluations in the country examining enrollees’ experiences as they enter into one of the Medicaid Expansion Programs that began in 2014. This study describes members’ experiences with transitioning to the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan (IHAWP) from the IowaCare program-a limited benefit/limited provider program for adults up to 200% of the federal poverty level in Iowa. These members represented about half of all of the IHAWP members enrolled during the first six months of the program (January 1-June 30, 2014). We utilized a mail-back survey with an online option with a sample of 6,750 IHAWP members. The overall response rate was 30% resulting in 1767 completed surveys. Those who responded were more likely to be older and more likely to be female than in the sample.