Mariannette Miller-Meeks: “[Iowans] may lose coverage, but that’s their choice to lose coverage” [The Gazette]

Yesterday, Mariannette Miller-Meeks doubled down on her vote to slash Medicaid and jeopardize health care for the nearly 22,000 people across IA-01 who will lose their insurance coverage thanks to the GOP budget bill.

Miller-Meeks said that “[Iowans] may lose coverage, but that’s their choice to lose coverage” – a callous lie as tens of thousands of her constituents face losing their health care because of Miller-Meeks’ cruel vote to slash Medicaid in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires.

DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Mariannette Miller-Meeks chose to lie to her constituents for months before voting to slash Medicaid and rip away their health care. She chose to prioritize the ultra-rich and force Iowans to pay for tax cuts to billionaires. Iowans will choose to fire her next November.”

Watch / read more:

Miller-Meeks: “…they may lose coverage, but that’s their choice to lose coverage.”

The Gazette: Members of Iowa’s congressional delegation double down on Medicaid cuts in federal budget

• A week after U.S. House Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s budget priorities, members of Iowa’s congressional delegation are doubling down on their support for it, including reductions to Medicaid spending.

• Dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the legislation, which passed the House 215-214, includes a $625 billion reduction in spending on Medicaid, a joint federal and state program that helps cover medical costs for some people with limited income.

• The current bill is expected to decrease Medicaid enrollment by 10.3 million, according to estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. That number includes 58,084 Medicaid recipients in Iowa, according to the CBO.

• Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks defended her vote for the “big beautiful bill” during a media availability with fellow Republican congressman Jim Jordan, of Ohio.

• “…they may lose coverage, but that’s their choice to lose coverage.”

• Democrats are stressing that the reduction in Medicaid spending is predicted to block access to health care for many Iowans.

• Democratic State Rep. Megan Srinivas, of Des Moines, who is a physician, said the cuts will hit nursing homes in the state, adding that 50 percent of patients in nursing homes have Medicaid as their primary payer.

• Fifty-seven percent of Iowa counties don’t have an obstetric facility and over the past 20 years, 40 birthing facilities have closed across the state, according to the American Medical Association.

• The cuts to Medicaid also could limit health care accessibility for Iowans in rural areas of the state, said Democratic Crawford County Supervisor David Muhlbauer, a farmer and board member of the Manning Regional Healthcare Center.

• “It really puts us in limbo, because we can’t really make a plan going forward strategically of what services best fit our community and our needs, because we don’t know what funding is going to be there,” Muhlbauer told reporters Thursday. “Medicaid funding cuts could really decimate our rural hospitals and the abilities that we provide for services.”

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