State senators Matt McCoy (D–Des Moines) and Jack Hatch (D–Des Moines) have joined critics in calling for reforms at the Iowa Comprehensive Health Association, a $35 million program that aims to insure Iowans with preexisting conditions but denies coverage to about 100 HIV-positive residents, The Des Moines Register reports. Another complaint is that the program’s administrative costs are too high. Administrators say that HIV-positive applicants to the program have been denied because the program’s current rules don’t allow an individual’s premium to be paid by a “third-party” payer, in this case the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. The $35 million in federal funds was provided to cover Iowans with preexisting conditions until the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. health care reform, goes into full effect in 2014.

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