Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle hears from Dubuque families on rising health care costs, threats to Medicaid
Roundtable hosted by Fairness for Iowa brings frontline health care workers, parents and local leaders together to spotlight the impact on Iowa working families
DUBUQUE, Iowa — Thursday, U.S. Rep. Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), Ranking Member of the U.S. House Budget Committee, joined Iowa families, frontline health care workers and local leaders for a community roundtable on rising health care costs and the future of Medicaid and Medicare.
Fairness for Iowa hosted the discussion, where community members shared firsthand accounts of medical debt, premium increases and the fear of losing access to care. Former state Sen. Pam Jochum, a board member with Crescent Health Center, moderated the conversation which featured panelists including state Sen. Tom Townsend, SEIU nurse Abby Butler, Dr. Tim King, an otolaryngologist based in Dubuque and Dubuque parent Bill Stumpf.
"Across the country, working families are being asked to make impossible choices between filling a prescription and paying the rent," Jochum said. "That's not a trade-off anyone should have to make. We came here to listen, to learn, and to take these stories back to Washington — because the fight to lower health care costs and to defend Medicaid and Medicare is, at its core, a fight to protect working families and the lives they've built.
“I want to sound the alarm bells everywhere I can, not just in my own congressional district, in my own state, but throughout the country,” Boyle said. This is not just an issue for those who are on Medicaid or Obamacare or Medicare. This is an issue for all of our society. We have to alert people that it's happening so we can come up with a plan together to fight back and to reverse this once and for all.”
Bill Stumpf, whose adult child relies on Medicaid, said the roundtable put a human face on a debate that too often happens behind closed doors in Washington.
"When you're a parent watching your child navigate a system that decides whether their care is 'covered' this year or 'optional' next year, you learn very quickly that programs like Medicaid are lifelines," Stumpf said. "I've sat at the kitchen table doing the math on what we can do without. Our leaders in Washington need to hear that, and I'm grateful Rep. Boyle came here to listen."
Following the panelists' remarks Jochum led an open discussion about the affordability crisis in eastern Iowa and the role state and federal leaders can play in protecting care. The conversation surfaced stories of surprise billing, denied claims and the ripple effects of Medicaid underfunding on rural clinics and hospitals.