IOWANS SPEAKING OUT: “Iowans’ fear cuts to Medicaid would end critical supports for loved ones”

“Miller-Meeks’ office had repeatedly reassured [Kearns] and his family that there would be no cuts to Medicaid. ‘She had a chance to stop it,’ Kearns said. ‘She’s voting against families like mine and a lot of other families in her district.’” [The Gazette]

“This bill is essentially taking from the poor to give to the rich.” [The Gazette]

Iowans whose families depend on Medicaid and SNAP are speaking out about what Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, and Zach Nunn’s deciding votes to slash the programs will mean for their families and their community.

Medicaid “offers critical support” and affordable health care to families across Iowa in caring for their children, and cuts would “imperil struggling rural hospitals” and “severely impact Iowa nursing homes” that depend on the program.

Read more below to learn about the Iowans who will be affected by Miller-Meeks, Hinson, and Nunn’s betrayal:

Des Moines Register: Congress passes budget bill with deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. What that means for Iowa

• Health care officials, social safety net providers and other advocates in Iowa are bracing for impact after Congress’ Republican majority passed major cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as part of President Donald Trump’s budget priorities.
• The bill would cut an estimated $625 billion from the public insurance program, which provides coverage for more than 71 million Americans. The cuts to SNAP, also known as food stamps, would tally up to $300 billion over the next 10 years.
• “There’s no preparing for this,” said Anne Discher, executive director of Common Good Iowa. “There’s no way to make this not hurt people. There’s no magic thing Iowa can do to not feel the impacts of the kinds of cuts they’re talking about.”
• “My children are not scamming a system,” [Patrick Kearns, an Iowa City father of two adult children with disabilities] said. “The idea that they’re somehow gaming the system at the detriment to the rest of society, especially when people like Elon Musk are using words like ‘parasite’ to describe my children — anger doesn’t quite encompass how I feel.”
• Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks sits on the Energy and Commerce committee and voted for the cuts.
• According to KFF, a health information nonprofit, Iowa would lose $518 million in federal funding, which is a 25% cut to its state spending per resident. Based on that funding loss, KFF estimates more than 86,000 Iowans would lose their Medicaid coverage.
• Experts have also said cuts to the program likely will mean rates of individuals without health insurance will increase. Another KFF analysis also estimated around 56,000 people in Iowa would become uninsured if the House’s bill passed as currently written.
• With cuts to Medicaid, Discher said it’s likely Iowa will see more of its rural hospitals cease certain health care services — or even close down.
• Kearn’s 35-year-old daughter, Lily Chong, who has autism, lives independently and has a job thanks to the support of Medicaid. The program also offers critical support for Leo Kearns, his 22-year-old son who has a brain injury, he said.
• “I just find it shocking that you would go after truly the most vulnerable people, as if they are somehow conducting fraud. These folks are barely surviving,” said Kearns, who is a registered nurse at the Iowa City VA Medical Center.
• Grimes resident Nancy Baker Curtis also expressed the same fears for her 9-year-old son, Charlie Curtis.
• Charlie, who has complex medical needs and uses a wheelchair after he was infected with bacterial meningitis at 6 days old, relies on his secondary Medicaid insurance to pay for many services not covered by Baker Curtis’ employee-based health plan. She said without Medicaid, he wouldn’t have been able to access occupational and physical therapies he needed to learn to walk and eat.
• “As soon as we got the Medicaid waiver, we were able to really start to help Charlie be his best self by giving him access to around-the-clock therapies,” said Baker Curtis, a teacher at Johnston Middle School and member of the Dallas Center-Grimes School Board. “Medicaid gave him his leg braces, his glasses, his communication device, his wheelchair,” she said. “These are the things that he needs to have a full, rich, inclusive, community-based life.”
• Nearly 260,000 Iowans were enrolled in SNAP as of fiscal year 2024.
• He pointed to a Feeding America report published in May that found in 2023, about 385,000 Iowans, or 12% of the state’s population, were food insecure. That’s an increase from 9% in 2019.

The Gazette: U.S. House approves Trump’s tax and spending bill. What it means for Iowa

• Doctors, nurses, food bank directors and other social safety net providers across Iowa warn major cuts to public health insurance and food assistance programs could lead to crowded emergency rooms, more rural hospital closures, drained family budgets, overworked providers and reduce care for veterans, seniors and children.
• The CBO said the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by $3.8 trillion over the next decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would lead to $1 trillion in reduced spending. The lowest income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop, while the highest ones would see a boost, it said.
• A study done by Penn Wharton Budget Model found that people earning between $17,000 and $51,000 would see on average a $700 reduction in their income after taxes. People reporting less than $17,000 in income would see a reduction closer to $1,000 on average. People earning more, however, would see gains.
• The predicted losses are primarily due to the cuts being made across federal agencies, and the benefits many lower-income Americans will see disappear because of them. Penn Wharton’s analysis found increased cost of medical bills and food by losing access to programs will be far higher than the amount of money they’ll receive through tax cuts.
• Kearns, the Iowa City parent, said Miller-Meeks’ office had repeatedly reassured him and his family that there would be no cuts to Medicaid.
• “She had a chance to stop it,” Kearns said. “She’s voting against families like mine and a lot of other families in her district.”
• Kearns also is a 30-year nurse for the Iowa City VA Medical Center, which has suffered staffing cuts since Trump took office. The proposed Medicaid reductions would further affect veterans that require long-term care, he said, and might imperil struggling rural hospitals.
• Iowa health care officials warn the Medicaid cuts could lead to longer wait times in emergency rooms, longer drives to see health care providers and fewer options for mental health care and OBGYN services in rural areas that are already lacking.
• Abby Butler, is a registered nurse at UnityPoint Health — Finley Hospital in Dubuque, and was on Capitol Hill last week to oppose cuts to Medicaid. Butler, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said the proposed changes to Medicaid could lead to rural hospitals eliminating services or even closing completely.
• “Many rural hospitals in Iowa are already currently functioning in a deficit and receive anywhere from 8 to 25 percent of their revenue from Medicaid,” she said. “With a decrease in this Medicaid funding, these hospitals may have to cut certain specialty services, such as (obstetrics) services, to be able to operate, which would have serious impacts on pregnant women in rural Iowa.”
• Proposed cuts to Medicaid also could severely impact Iowa nursing homes, especially those relying on Medicaid reimbursement for a significant portion of their funding, Butler said.
• Cuts also could affect seniors with Medicare who rely on Medicaid for long-term care. Medicare generally only covers a limited period of skilled nursing facility care, while Medicaid is a primary payer for ongoing long-term care services, including nursing home stays.
• Medicaid covers nearly 40 percent of all births in Iowa, and 50 percent of people who live in nursing homes are enrolled in Medicaid. Iowa also has the highest percentage of nonelderly recipients who need Medicaid to pay for mental health care.
• According to the nonprofit health care advocacy and reporting organization KFF, Iowa would lose $518 million in federal Medicaid funding, representing a 25 percent cut to state spending per resident.
• KFF estimates between 64,000 and 107,000 Iowans would lose Medicaid coverage.
• “Both Medicaid and marketplaces are fundamental and foundational in helping millions of Americans live a healthy life, and they are also vital to our economy by keeping our hospitals — especially rural ones — open, and bolstering our health care workforce,” she said.
• The higher uninsured rates among Iowa patients will place increased strain on community health centers and rural health care systems, which are already caring for a higher percentage of uninsured or underinsured patients, Brooks-LaSure said.
• “This will only make food insecurity in the state of Iowa worse,” Elzinga said. “There is incredible strain already on food banks and food pantries across the state, and resilience is wearing thin. More Iowa families will experience food insecurity and turn to food pantries already stretched thin and asked to do more with less.
• “… This bill is essentially taking from the poor to give to the rich.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Democrats, advocates urge Iowa senators to reject budget reconciliation bill

• U.S. Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, both Republicans currently representing districts that are considered possible pick-ups for Democrats in the 2026 midterms, have repeatedly defended their support of the bill against criticism from Democrats and others who say the cuts to public assistance programs like Medicaid will hurt Iowans.
• In the wake of the bill’s passage, several Iowa organizations opposed to the cuts warned that if the budget reconciliation package becomes law, thousands of Iowans could lose health coverage or struggle to pay for food. Evan Schultz, a Des Moines resident with quadriplegia who works at Central Iowa Center for Independent Living, said in a Fairness for Iowa news release that he relies on Medicaid and SNAP to live independently.
• “My Congressman chose tax breaks for billionaires over me,” Schultz said in the news release. “I can’t tell you how sad, scary and disappointing this is. Medicaid and SNAP don’t make anyone rich. They help us get by. They help me live on my own and make sure I have enough to eat. If I get kicked off Medicaid my life will be upside down, but at least I have my family to turn to. For many, their lives will be over.”

Iowa Starting Line: Miller-Meeks, Nunn vote to cut Medicaid and SNAP

• House Republicans passed a tax bill that includes major cuts to Medicaid and SNAP food aid. While the cuts will be experienced by the poorest Iowans, the package funds tax breaks for billionaires.
• House Republicans passed a massive budget bill early Thursday morning that would slash federal funding for Medicaid and food assistance programs while extending tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of Iowans who rely on these safety net programs.
• In an appearance at the American Hospital Association’s Annual Membership meeting this month, Miller-Meeks claimed the bill would not cause significant harm to Medicaid.
• In reality, the impacts could be severe for Iowa. As of this month, 603,000 Iowans are enrolled in Iowa Medicaid. 40% are children. 42% live in a rural area. And 15% have three or more chronic conditions. More than 75% work a job.
• The legislation also targets food assistance programs. The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program supported about 260,000 Iowans in 2024, helping them afford groceries. The bill would cut benefits and impose new work requirements that advocates say could affect Iowans who rely on food assistance programs, including school meals and Meals on Wheels.
• The cuts come as Iowa’s rural healthcare system is already under strain. Rural hospitals could face additional pressure as the budget strains could prompt some hospitals and nursing homes to curtail services, increase rates for other patients or, in the worst case scenario, shut down.
• During a press conference Thursday morning, former federal healthcare administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure warned that “over 14 million people will lose their healthcare coverage as a result of Republicans’ proposals that recklessly cut nearly a trillion dollars in healthcare spending, the largest in our nation’s history.”
• The bill now heads to the Senate, where Iowa Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley will face pressure to vote for the legislation. The Senate is expected to make significant changes before any final version reaches President Trump’s desk.

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