Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn Vote for Medicaid Cuts They Decried As “Threatening” Health Care Coverage, “Destabilizing” Hospitals

Two weeks ago, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn released a letter claiming they “won’t support” new, aggressive cuts to Medicaid.

Last week, they broke that promise. Both Miller-Meeks and Nunn voted for the exact cuts they decried as “threaten[ing] access to coverage or jeopardiz[ing] the stability of our hospitals and providers.”

As the saying goes…watch what they do, not what they say. Nunn and Miller-Meeks sure have a lot to say – but they are spineless when it comes to actually standing up for Iowans.

Miller-Meeks and Nunn know that the Medicaid cuts they voted for will rip health care away from Iowans and jeopardize rural hospitals, they admitted it themselves.

Read more:

The Gazette: Iowa’s U.S. House members vote for Trump’s tax bill, Medicaid changes. Here’s what they said

• Both Miller-Meeks and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, of Bondurant, however, signed onto a letter along with 14 other vulnerable House Republicans opposing deeper Medicaid cuts contained in the final version of the bill that target Medicaid provider taxes and state-directed payments to hospitals, nursing facilities and other providers.
• Miller-Meeks, Nunn and the other lawmakers said the Senate’s changes, which the House ultimately agreed to, go “beyond” the “pragmatic and compassionate” Medicaid changes they supported in the House bill.
• They said penalties for Medicaid expansion states, including Iowa, and cuts to emergency Medicaid funding “would place additional burdens on hospitals already stretched thin by legal and moral obligations to provide care.”
• “Protecting Medicaid is essential for the vulnerable constituents we were elected to represent,” the letter states. “Therefore, we cannot support a final bill that threatens access to coverage or jeopardizes the stability of our hospitals and providers.”
• Democrats criticized the Republicans’ letter as “meaningless,” highlighting their initial support for the House bill containing significant Medicaid rollbacks.
• Iowa hospitals and health care providers have said the Medicaid provisions would lead to significant cuts in federal Medicaid spending and increased financial burdens on states. Such changes would result in reduced access to care for millions of Americans, including those in both the Medicaid expansion and traditional Medicaid populations.
• Chris Mitchell, president and CEO of the Iowa Hospital Association, said rural hospitals already operate on thin margins. Cuts to Medicaid will exacerbate their already strained financial situations, forcing hospitals to make tough decisions about reducing services or closing altogether, Mitchell previously told The Gazette.
• Rural Iowa has been losing nursing home facilities, and according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, 20 rural Iowa hospitals are at risk of closure, with five facing immediate risk of shutting down.

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