Protect Our Care and Fairness for Iowa launch “Sick of It” campaign in Iowa as Republican health care cuts drive up costs and rip away care

First reported by CNN, Protect Our Care Launches Campaign Channeling the Frustration of Everyday Americans and Calling on Lawmakers to Listen

Learn More About the “Sick of It!” Campaign Here.

INDIANOLA, IA – Yesterday, Protect Our Care and Fairness for Iowa launched Protect Our Care’s “Sick of It! Fix Health Care Now” campaign in Iowa, a multi-month effort giving voice to the millions of Americans sick of Trump and Republicans in Congress gutting our health care. Speakers demanded action from lawmakers and called for solutions to lower costs, lower barriers to care, and fix our broken health care system.

Iowans are fed up with the growing health care crisis after Trump and Republicans like Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks slashed more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and gutted Affordable Care Act tax credits to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations. Since then, more than eight million people, including nearly 10,000 Iowans, have lost the coverage they relied on to see a doctor when they’re sick, while costs have skyrocketed for millions more. Over 1,000 hospitals, nursing homes, maternity wards, and other providers are closing, cutting essential services, or facing the risk of closure or cuts. These are critical providers like MercyOne South in Des Moines. Read more about the damage and harm Republican health care cuts are causing Iowa families here.

Matt Russell, executive director of the Iowa Farmers Union, spoke about how strides made in health care policy over the past two decades are now being rolled back. 

“The Affordable Care Act was never perfect but it was a major improvement from what existed before, it allowed for people with pre-existing conditions to get coverage; it made health care more affordable for everyday people, ” Russell said. “Now those same people are no longer able to afford coverage. That’s families, small business owners and employees, older and younger farmers alike, all making impossible decisions to make ends meet or worse going without health care entirely.” 

Jill, a retired hospital administrator and ACA recipient from Norwalk, shared her personal health story and some of her perspective having worked in rural hospital administration.

“My premium went from around $900 last year to over $9,600 this year. So yes, personally, I am putting off getting certain health care as a financial caution,” Jill said. “When thousands of Iowans are going without care because they can’t afford it, the costs for them don’t just disappear. Those costs are passed on to hospitals, then to insurers, employers and finally to everyday working people. The same with money being cut at the federal level, those costs get passed down to the states, counties, to the taxpayer.” 

Iowa State Representative Larry McBurney spoke about the cuts at the state level and what he’s heard from constituents. 

“No Iowan should be stuck picking between groceries, rent, bills or health care,” Rep. McBurney said. “When looking at health care policy, I always ask, ‘Does it get people the care they need at a price that they can afford?’ Those are pretty reasonable demands, but our members of Congress aren’t remotely concerned about meeting that basic need.”