IA-01 Town Hall: Funding & Affordability Challenges for Rural Healthcare as Shutdown Looms

Concerned Iowans gathered at a town hall in Washington, Iowa, last night to discuss health care cuts and rising prices ahead of a potential government shutdown. 

The recent Republican Tax Law - supported by Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks - includes massive medicaid cuts for rural areas of Iowa. At the same time, health care tax credits are set to expire at the end of this year, which will leave thousands of Iowans facing skyrocketing health care premiums unless Republicans in Congress take action by September 30, when government funding runs out. 

Local leaders, healthcare workers, and community members impacted by these Medicaid cuts and increasing healthcare premiums discussed how these changes will result in increased challenges in accessing healthcare for rural residents of IA-01.

Danielle Pettit-Majewski, the director of Johnson County Public Health, emphasized that rural healthcare systems will feel these cuts harder than metro-area hospitals.  

"When you live in rural Iowa, it doesn’t matter what kind of insurance you have – cuts to health tax credits and Medicaid impact everyone’s access to care,” Pettit-Majewski said. “Rural hospitals and clinics run on very thin margins, and without these pay sources, we’re going to see hospitals close. That means longer drives for emergency care and longer wait times for wellness checks. Aside from just losing access to care, losing hospitals means losing hundreds of stable jobs in our communities that will decimate our small towns."

Jessica Roman, an early intervention provider and parent/child advocate in Washington County, noted that cutting more funding from Medicaid in Iowa will not fix existing problems in the system, let alone improve it.

“I have worked with families facing terminal diagnoses for their children, and they are just trying to create the best possible life for them in the here and now,” Roman said. “I served a family whose toddler had a rare genetic condition that caused him to go from a running, exuberant, talking two-year-old to needing medical equipment just to stand & communicate a year later. But thanks to Iowa's privatized Medicaid system, his coverage for medical equipment was denied, because it wouldn’t prolong his life. It would have, however, increased the quality of his life. I fail to see how cutting more resources from an already broken, struggling Medicaid system in Iowa will do anything but ensure the system breaks even further. Cutting resources will not maintain or fix or save the system, as some have claimed."

Dr. Whitney Zahnd, a rural health researcher and immediate past-president of the Iowa Rural Health Association, commented that having health care coverage does not guarantee access to health care services for many Iowans.

“We know how important it is for people to have access to care in order to have the freedom to flourish, as Iowa's motto says,” Zahnd said. “People need health care coverage, but coverage alone is not enough - access to healthcare providers and services is another important piece of the puzzle. So impacts on any source of healthcare - such as could happen if these Medicaid cuts force rural hospitals to reduce their services, or the expiration of the health care tax credits increases health care premiums by over $1,000 a year for a family of four in Washington County - impacts everyone in the community.”