This Week, Protect Our Care’s Care Force One is Rolling Through Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Des Moines.
Washington D.C. — With under two weeks until the midterm elections, Donald Trump is headed to Sioux City, Iowa, in a last-ditch effort to win back voters’ support. But no campaign rally can erase the damage that his health care record has imposed on Iowans. That’s why we’re hitting the road in Iowa on our “Sick of It! Fix Health Care Now” bus tour, where we’ll be making stops in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Des Moines to hold Trump and Republicans like Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn accountable for cutting our health care to fund tax breaks for billionaires. While Trump and Republicans try to change the subject, Iowa families are paying the price of the GOP’s sabotage agenda with rising premiums, lost coverage, and the fallout from GOP health care cuts.
“While Trump rallies to distract Iowa families, Care Force One is criss-crossing the state to amplify the stories of real people impacted by the GOP’s devastating cuts to health care,” said Protect Our Care’s Adam Hoyer. “Make no mistake, this is a health care election, and Republicans like Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn have a whole lot to answer for. It’s because of their vote to gut health care that families across Iowa are stretching their medications, skipping checkups, and crossing their fingers that nobody in the family gets sick enough to send them spiraling into debt. Trump and Iowa Republicans won’t get away with this. We’re bringing the fight right to their doorstep with events in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Des Moines to remind voters exactly who chose tax breaks for billionaires over health care for working families.”
Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn happily voted to gut Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations last year. Since then, over 21,000 Iowans have lost their health care coverage, while families who relied on the tax credits Republicans gutted have been slammed with estimated average premium increases of 173% this year alone.
And the damage doesn’t stop there. Iowa hospitals are projected to lose $8.9 billion over the next decade from Republican Medicaid cuts, putting even more pressure on a health care system already stretched thin. Now, 21 hospitals and health care providers across the state have reportedly shuttered their doors, announced closure, or have been identified as at risk of doing so. For Iowan families, that means even more uncertainty about where they’ll turn when they need care.
BY THE NUMBERS: Iowans Choose Between Paying More Or Foregoing Health Care Coverage
- An estimated 21,058 Iowans have already lost the ACA coverage they counted on to see a doctor after Republicans gutted health care.
- Premiums for Iowans who counted on the health tax credits Republicans gutted increased by an average of 173% this year:
- A 45-year-old in Iowa making $64,000 saw their average annual premium costs rise by $1,353 to hit $6,793 this year.
- A 60-year-old couple in Iowa making $85,000 saw their average annual premium costs rise by $18,310 to hit $25,535 this year.
- A family of four in Iowa making $130,000 saw their average annual premium costs rise by $8,171 to hit $19,221 this year.
- Hospital systems nationwide are already reporting a surge in uninsured patients after Republicans ripped away health tax credits. Iowa hospitals and clinics are facing a $27 million loss in funding and a 13.7% spike in uncompensated care demand that will affect their ability to keep their doors open.
- Iowa hospitals alone are also expected to lose $8.9 billion over the next decade due to GOP Medicaid cuts. As of mid-October, 21 Iowa health care providers are at-risk, announced cuts, are closing, or have closed, including:
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- AT-RISK: Manning Regional Healthcare Center, MercyOne Newton Medical Center
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- CUTS ANNOUNCED: Horn Memorial Hospital – home health and hospice services, MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center, MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center, Pella Regional Health Center’ – Ottumwa
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- CLOSURE ANNOUNCED: CHI Health Mercy Council Bluffs – Labor & Delivery Unit, Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center – Labor & Delivery Unit
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- CLOSED: Britton Chiropractic & Rehab Clinic, Floyd County Medical Center — Midwife Program, Henry County Health Center-Wayland Clinic, Israel Family Hospice House, MercyOne Clinton Medical Center – Labor & Delivery Unit, MercyOne Ottumwa Family and Internal Medicine Clinic, MercyOne South Des Moines Family Medicine and Urgent Care, MercyOne Traer Family Medicine, Planned Parenthood – Iowa City Health Center, River Hills Community Health Center – Centerville, River Hills Community Health Center – Richland Dental Center, UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine – Anthon, UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine – Moville