After an embarrassing start to Rod Blum’s town hall tour in Iowa, a new video shows an Iowa father confronting Blum for his support of the Republican Repeal & Ripoff bill during Blum’s town hall in Cedar Rapids. In the video, the man advocates on behalf of his son, Adam, who has epilepsy and could be denied care through Medicaid if the Republican House bill is passed in its current form.
“Rod Blum can’t run away from the fact that his heartless vote for the Republican repeal and ripoff bill jeopardizes care for people like Adam,” said DCCC spokeswoman Rachel Irwin. “If Rod Blum truly cared about protecting Iowa’s most vulnerable, he would not have voted for these massive cuts to Iowans’ health care. Instead, Rod Blum put his own agenda before the people he represents and they will hold Blum accountable for his failed leadership.”
NPR recently rated Blum’s claim that “nothing will change” in regard to Medicaid services “false,” as the Republican bill would cut Medicaid services by $880 billion over 10 years.
——
Father of child with disabilities confronts Blum at town hall
(CNN) An Iowa town hall crowd grew rowdy after a father of a son with disabilities confronted a Republican lawmaker about his support for the Republicans’ health care replacement bill.
“I would’ve thought somewhere along the line, somebody would’ve said that when you impact kids with special needs — who we sort of have an obligation to take care of our own here in Iowa — that we would’ve thought that maybe we shouldn’t be doing this,” Dale Todd, whose son has epilepsy, told Rep. Rod Blum Tuesday at a Cedar Rapids town hall.
Adam is on Medicaid and his school nurse, who administers Adam’s medication, is paid for by Medicaid dollars, Todd said.
If enacted, the House version of the bill, which was narrowly passed last week but faces likely changes in the Senate, would significantly overhaul Medicaid. It would send the states a fixed amount of money for each Medicaid enrollee, known as a per-capita cap.
States could also opt to receive federal Medicaid funding as a block grant for the adults and children in their programs. That would mean states would get a fixed amount of federal funding each year regardless of how many participants are in the program.
But Blum said Dale should not worry about his son’s health care being dropped.
“Under the new health care bill, Adam will not be negatively impacted under this bill,” he said.
Blum told the packed room that senior citizens, veterans and people with special needs “are three groups of people in this country that we must take care of.”
“They’re at the top of the list in my book,” he added.
“We should never, ever cut a dollar to someone like Adam, ever,” he said. “We need to take care of them.”
Toward the end of the town hall, Blum was asked about President Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey, saying he was supportive of the decision.
“I think it’s probably time for Comey to go. The FBI has been way too involved in politics — both sides of the aisle. Been too politicized. And the President has every authority under the Constitution to terminate the director of the FBI,” Blum said, to which the crowd chanted, “Do your job.”
Blum, who represents a competitive district in eastern Iowa, made headlines the day before when he walked out of an interview after being pressed over a decision to require that town hall attendees verify residency to attend.