I'm writing because something has been happening in our state that I think would concern you as much as it concerns me. Iowa Medicaid suspended all payments to Rashid Pharmacy in Fort Madison back in June 2021, saying there was a "credible allegation of fraud." Five years later — no criminal charges, no civil claims, no indictments. Nothing. And yet the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services has quietly withheld somewhere between two and three million dollars from that pharmacy and still hasn't had to answer for it.
That's not how things are supposed to work. A business owner in your district can have millions of dollars frozen based on an allegation that was never proven, never charged, and apparently never seriously pursued — and there's no one making the state explain itself. That's not protecting taxpayers. That's the government holding onto money it may have no right to keep, while a small pharmacy and the families who depend on it are left in limbo. If the state has real evidence of fraud, it should have acted on it by now. If it doesn't, those funds need to be released and Iowa DHHS needs to explain how this happened.
I'm asking you to formally request that Iowa DHHS provide a complete accounting of the Rashid Pharmacy payment suspension — what evidence justified it, why no legal action has followed in five years, and when those withheld funds will be resolved.
Please demand answers from Iowa DHHS about the money withheld from Rashid Pharmacy and make sure this kind of indefinite suspension can't keep happening to other small businesses in our communities.
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