Cass County Deputy Auditor Sheri Karns said Monday, another person had filed nomination papers to run for office during the November 8th General Election, here in Cass County. Karns reports Mike Klocke, of Massena, filed papers to run as a Republican for the Cass County Memorial Hospital’s Board of Trustee’s, representing the Southeast District. Earlier this month, Jody Lorence, of Atlantic, filed her nomination papers to run as a Democrat for CCMH Board of Trustee’s, in the Northwest District.

Wednesday is the final day for persons wanting to run for the various County offices, to submit their nomination papers with the required number of signatures.

The latest Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s report (issued Monday), indicates a man from Cass County was arrested early Saturday morning, following a traffic stop. A pickup driven by 61-year old Ricky Lee Roby, of Atlantic, was pulled over at around 6:50-a.m. on Highway 92, near 440th Street. A routine records check revealed Roby’s driving status was banned. He was placed under arrest for Driving While Barred.

A man from Carson was arrested late Friday night in Pott. County, after his pickup was pulled over for speeding and allegedly showed signs of impairment. 25-year old Colton Jarett Clark was placed under arrest for OWI/2nd offense.

Two men were arrested Friday evening, in Pottawattamie County. Officials say 30-year old Phillip Michael Houston, of Walnut, was arrested on a warrant for Driving While Barred. While serving the warrant at a residence in Walnut, deputies spoke with two other men, one of whom had a warrant out of Crawford County. 22-year old Jacob Dwayne Jens, of Avoca, was subsequently arrest on the warrant and held at the Pott. County Jail, for extradition to Crawford County.

Saturday night, 63-year old Brenda Faye Bornn, of Oakland, was arrested at a residence in Avoca, after a neighbor had called authorities with a complaint. It turns out, Bornn had three warrants issued for her arrest out of Clay County. She was arrested on the warrants for Interfering with Official Acts, Failure to Appear (in court) on a Possession of Controlled Substance/2nd offense charge, Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp and Theft in the 5th Degree. Bornn was brought to the Pott. County Jail and held pending extradition to Clay County.

Early Saturday morning, 36-year old Halie Erin Smith, of Council Bluffs, was pulled over and arrested following a traffic stop for failure to dim her headlights. Smith allegedly displayed signs of impairment, and was taken into custody for OWI/1st Offense, Possession of a Controlled Substance (9.7-grams of marijuana), and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (3 marijuana smoking pipes).

State officials say the three private companies now managing care for the 560-thousand Medicaid patients in Iowa saved Iowa taxpayers 22 million dollars in April, May and June — but exactly how that savings came about is unclear. Liz Matney, of the Iowa Department of Human Services says there are “pretty wide variances” in how the companies report paid claims.

“We’re investigating as to whether or not that accurately represents the number of claims that they’ve reimbursed or whether we have a data reporting issue,” she says. In the department’s quarterly report on Medicaid spending, there’s a “top 10” list of why claims for prescription drugs were denied. UnitedHealthcare’s number one reason was because of an error. The number two reason AmeriHealth hadn’t paid those claims was because the “claim has not been paid.”

Representative Lisa Heddens, a Democrat from Ames, says it makes no sense for the report to label a processed claim as “clean” if the doctor, hospital or other health care provider hadn’t been paid correctly or hadn’t been paid at all. “I don’t feel like I’ve got an accurate picture here in a number of areas in the report,” Heddens said. Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, says she’s getting nothing but complaints from constituents.

“What I wish is that one day, someone would come to the mic and say: ‘I love the new system. It’s working for me and this is the best thing that’s ever happened to the state of Iowa,'” Mascher said. “I have heard that from no one.” Kim Foltz is C-E-O of the UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Iowa. It’s one of the three managed care companies for Iowa Medicaid patients. “We’re serving approximately 190,000 members today and we actually do have a very large number of positive stories,” Foltz says. “…I would say that we have those positive stories. Those folks don’t come to these sessions.”

Cynthia MacDonald is president of the Amerigroup plan for Iowa Medicaid patients. “The depth of the kinds of work and process that we do as managed care organizations is profound,” MacDonald told legislators.” Cheryl Harding is Iowa market president for AmeriHealth. “We have lots of really heart-warming stories and I wish those were the people who came to these meetings to talk to you, but they aren’t,” Harding said, with a laugh.

Last week, Republican Governor Terry Branstad said the companies are preventing “significant” fraud, waste and abuse. State officials told legislators yesterday that there are now four software systems in place to track fraud and data will be available later on how much fraud’s being caught. The state of Iowa spent more than 332 million dollars on the Medicaid program during April, May and June.

The three companies were fined 44-hundred dollars for errors found in claim information submitted in June. Senator David Johnson of Ocheyedan says the Branstad Administration made a “unilateral decision” not to fine the three companies for failing to meet performance standards in April and May. “What are we going to do to improve communications between the administration and the legislature?” Johnson asked DHS administrators. “Because I think you get about a D+ on that.” Johnson recently changed his party registration from Republican to “no party” in protest of having Donald Trump as the G-O-P’s presidential nominee.

Republican Representative Dave Heaton of Mount Pleasant says there had been a “few hiccups” for Medicaid patients and health care providers since April 1st, but he said “the time for partisanship is over.””Transitions are hard and we know we’ve encountered some issues,” Heaton said. Heaton is co-chair of the legislature’s Health Policy Oversight Committee. Two dozen Medicaid patients and Iowa health care providers with complaints about the new system spoke out during a two-hour public hearing on Monday morning at the statehouse.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Life insurance companies are setting up “shadow insurers” to take on some of their liabilities and free up some of their reserves. Critics say the practice allows the companies to mask their true financial positions and poses a long-term risk to policyholders. Now one critic is seeking to force the release of records related to the deals in Iowa, which has encouraged the practice.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad has issued disaster proclamations for two northeast Iowa counties that endured severe storms and flooding. Branstad Monday issued the proclamations for Bremer and Chickasaw counties, allowing state resources to be used to aid in recovery efforts from storms Aug. 23. Branstad’s action also activates the Individual Assistance Program for residents of the two counties, providing grants of up to $5,000 for certain households for car repairs, clothing, food and temporary housing.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Board of Psychology is explaining why it declined earlier this month to adopt a rule that would have prohibited Iowa-licensed psychologists from trying to reverse a patient’s sexual orientation with a practice known as conversion therapy. Gay rights advocates petitioned the board in February to consider the rule. The board says it knows of no licensed Iowa psychologist engaging in conversion therapy and will investigate reports of those employing a therapy deemed harmful or unethical.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A representative for one of the insurance companies overseeing Iowa’s newly privatized Medicaid program says it has lost money during the system’s implementation. Kim Foltz, CEO for UnitedHealthcare’s Iowa operations, cited information in a new quarterly report in telling a legislative oversight committee on Monday at the Iowa Capitol that the company has lost money. She later declined to provide specific information on a dollar figure.