Iowans Can’t Afford Ashley: Hinson Continues Hiking Costs on Everything From Gas to Healthcare
In This Week’s Edition of the Ashley Accountability Alert, Hinson’s Vote to Cut Healthcare Comes into Focus as She Continues Supporting a War that is Hiking Gas Prices
DES MOINES – This week, Iowans got sticker shock at the pump as the average cost of gas in Iowa ticked to nearly $4 per gallon thanks to Ashley Hinson’s latest vote to continue the war in Iran – now the sixth time she’s voted to support the conflict.
Meanwhile, Iowans called out Hinson for making their healthcare more expensive and threatening to rip away their coverage as new reporting revealed that 374 more healthcare facilities in Iowa have closed than opened since Hinson’s been in Congress.
But that’s not all…
- First, costs continued to skyrocket for Iowans across the state as the Hinson-backed Iran war continued and a report showed that her chaotic tariffs are crushing Iowa families and farmers. It comes as she voted to continue the war for a sixth time despite the harm it’s causing Iowans.
- In the last week in Iowa, gas increased by 12 cents to an average of nearly $4 per gallon and diesel is up 32 cents, rising to an average of nearly $5 per gallon, with costs likely to continue increasing as the price of oil skyrockets to $100 per barrel.
- In addition, Iowa corn growers are paying 37% more for supplies since 2021 as they warn that “pressure is mounting” and their “ability to sustain pain is strongly diminished because of the length” of the current Hinson economic crisis.
- Then, a new report uncovered Ashley Hinson desperately trying to downplay the number of healthcare clinics closing in Iowa. Despite claiming her critics are “ignoring the fact that in other places new clinics have opened,” the truth is state records show that “by any count, Iowa has lost far more healthcare facilities than it has gained since 2021” when Hinson took office.
- In fact, since Hinson got to Congress, 842 healthcare facilities have closed, including “two hospitals, a critical access hospital, 11 rural health clinics, 46 nursing homes, 28 residential care facilities, 16 hospice facilities, and three ambulatory surgical centers.”
- Hinson also found herself in hot water after a new report found she raked in thousands of dollars from Bayer, the maker of Roundup, which scientific studies have linked to an “increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.”
- She recently received $5,000 in March 2026 just as Bayer was spending millions to lobby Congress to give themselves “blanket immunity” from lawsuits and the power to remove state warning label laws that protect families, farmers, and children from cancer-causing chemicals.
- To round out the week, local Cedar Rapids leaders and Iowans dealing with high healthcare costs and diminished care came together to call out Hinson for voting against extending Affordable Care Act tax credits and to cut Medicaid.
See What Iowans Were Seeing and Reading This Week:
- Health care took center stage Thursday in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race as Iowa Democrats criticized U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s voting record.
- The Iowa Democratic Party hosted a news conference in Cedar Rapids where speakers argued Hinson’s votes in Congress have contributed to higher health insurance premiums and reduced access to care across the state.
- State Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, said Iowans will continue to face rising health care costs if current federal policies remain in place.
- “It’s only going to get worse,” Zabner said. “Thousands of Iowans will see average health insurance costs increase by double digits. Beyond the Affordable Care Act, her vote for the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill is threatening to kick another 110,000 Iowans off of their health care. Taken together, her votes are creating an unparalleled health care crisis in Iowa.”
- Democrats also criticized Hinson for voting against extending enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, arguing their expiration will increase insurance costs for many marketplace enrollees. The party also pointed to reports showing Iowa has experienced more health care facility closures than openings since Hinson took office.
- […] the average price of regular unleaded gasoline as of Wednesday sits at $3.80 per gallon. The price marks a 12-cent increase over last week and an 89-cent jump from one year ago.
- Retail diesel prices in Iowa rose 32 cents this week, with a statewide average of $4.85 per gallon. One year ago, diesel prices averaged $3.57 in Iowa.
- Iowa Starting Line: Hinson says clinic closure talk is ‘lying by omission.’ State records tell another story
- US Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican, says pointing to the state’s healthcare clinic closures as evidence of healthcare becoming less accessible in Iowa isn’t the full story.
- “I guess they’re lying by omission is the way I would say that,” the Republican Senate candidate said on WHO Radio’s Simon Conway Show on July 9, arguing that critics of her healthcare record are “ignoring the fact that in other places new clinics have opened.”
- The state keeps track of health facility closures and openings. And according to that record, openings have not kept pace with closures.
- Since Hinson took federal office in 2021, 842 licensed healthcare entities have closed in Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing’s health facilities database. […] the closures also include two hospitals, a critical access hospital, 11 rural health clinics, 46 nursing homes, 28 residential care facilities, 16 hospice facilities, and three ambulatory surgical centers.
- Over the same period, the database records 468 entities opening. […] by any count, Iowa has lost far more healthcare facilities than it has gained since 2021.
- Iowa Independent: Rep. Ashley Hinson received thousands of dollars in PAC donations from maker of Roundup
- The corporate political action committee of the company that makes the agrochemical herbicide Roundup has given thousands of dollars in campaign donations to Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson over the past three years.
- Several scientific studies have linked the main ingredient of the agricultural version of the product, glyphosate, to an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
- Iowa has the second-highest and fastest-rising cancer rate in the United States, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry at the University of Iowa.
###