RECAP: Iowans Call Out Ashley Hinson for Sending Health Insurance Premiums Skyrocketing and Closing Healthcare Clinics
Hinson Repeatedly Voted to Block a Bipartisan Effort to Extend ACA Tax Credits, Driving Up Healthcare Costs for 100,000 Iowans and Endangering Hospitals Across the State
Michele Steepleton, a Cedar Rapids Resident Who is a Caretaker for a Family Member on Medicaid: “I Truly Don’t Know How Anyone in Good Conscience Who is a Millionaire Can Vote to Take Healthcare Away From Iowans Who Are Struggling the Most in This Economy”
DES MOINES – Today, local Cedar Rapids leaders and Iowans experiencing increased health insurance premiums and diminishing access to healthcare came together to call out Ashley Hinson for hiking healthcare costs by voting to oppose extending Affordable Care Act tax credits and cut Medicaid.
What’s more: A new report this week shows that in the time Hinson has been in Congress, 842 healthcare facilities have closed across the state of Iowa and that “by any count, Iowa has lost far more healthcare facilities than it has gained” since Hinson was sworn into office.
“[Ashley Hinson’s] votes are creating an unparalleled healthcare crisis in Iowa at a time when our state is among the nation’s leaders in cancer rates. Just when you think it can’t get worse, it does.” said Adam Zabner, Iowa State Representative House District 90. “New reporting this week shows that Ashley Hinson is desperately trying to downplay the crisis by claiming that people are ignoring that some clinics have opened in Iowa. But no matter how she spins it, the truth is that Iowa has lost far more healthcare facilities than it has gained. In fact, since Hinson got to Congress, 842 healthcare facilities have closed. […] What that means for the Iowans that I serve is that they’re traveling farther for care, dropping their health insurance coverage, and making painful financial decisions.”
“I witnessed how Medicaid helped my sister at a very low point in her life. I believe it literally saved her life and this is what Medicaid is for,” said Michele Steepleton, a Cedar Rapids resident who is a caretaker for a family member on Medicaid. “I truly don’t know how anyone in good conscience who is a millionaire can vote to take healthcare away from Iowans who are struggling the most in this economy. […] Ashley Hinson isn’t fighting for Iowans like my sister. It’s time for a change.”
Ashley Hinson is Making Healthcare More Unaffordable and Inaccessible in Iowa:
- Ashley Hinson voted against a bipartisan effort to extend ACA tax credits to stop health care costs from skyrocketing.
- Her vote is expected to kick 24,000 Iowans off their health insurance and an estimated 117,890 have seen their insurance costs increase by 97% – an average of $1,080.
- Thousands of Iowans could see their health insurance premiums increase dramatically for the “second straight year.”
- Iowans with these plans will see average health insurance costs increase by up to 16.84%.
- “Nearly one-fifth of Iowans with ACA plans dropped their coverage” since the tax credits expired.
- Hinson has long wreaked havoc on our healthcare system. She said she was “proud” of her vote for the biggest cuts to Medicaid in history, which threatens to kick over 110,000 Iowans off their health care.
- At the same time, Hinson gave a $121 billion tax cut to the richest 1%, after voting against legislation capping prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year and insulin at $35 a month.
- She supported a plan to convert Medicare to a “premium support model,” which would “end Medicare as we know it” by making it compete with private plans.
- Hinson is desperately trying to downplay the number of health facility closures in Iowa.
- Since Hinson has been in Congress, 842 healthcare facilities have closed across the state of Iowa.
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