Republican Senator Joni Ernst says she’s talked directly with the head of the federal agency reviewing Iowa’s “stopgap” plan to shore up the state’s individual insurance market.

Verma heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That’s the federal agency that must grant a waiver for the state’s plan to help 72-thousand Iowans buy individual insurance policies for 2018.

The state’s insurance commissioner is asking for permission to redirect federal subsidies to ensure younger, healthier people buy insurance — and send more of ObamaCare subsidies to two insurance companies to cover the costs of care for older, sicker individuals. If the waiver is granted, Medica and Wellmark have said they’ll sell individual policies to Iowans. Without the waiver, an estimated 20-thousand Iowans will be unable to afford to buy health insurance next year.