Iowa Democrats Bring “Decade of Denied Care” Tour to Sioux City
DES MOINES – Today the Iowa Democratic Party brought the “Decade of Denied Care” Tour to Sioux City, continuing to highlight for Medicaid Awareness Month how the last decade of one-party control has made it harder for Iowans to get the care they need.
Iowans impacted by health care cuts gathered to call out Feenstra’s vote to gut Medicaid and threaten rural hospitals. They also condemned Kim Reynolds’ mismanagement of Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program, which has resulted in thousands of Iowans being denied care, and discussed how health care has suffered under a decade of one-party rule.
“Randy Feenstra and Kim Reynolds supported the Big Billionaire Bailout,” said Abi Calvert, a Sioux City social worker. “They are actively and cruelly taking away our health care, our children’s health care. This will be a death sentence to some, and I’m legitimately afraid of what’s going to happen in 2027 if Republicans maintain control.”
“In August 2022, I was hit with long COVID … I had to start using the Medicaid benefits I had been neglecting,” said Garie Lewis, a Sioux City resident who gets health care through Medicaid. “Medicaid is paying for all of the medications I have to take. If I lose Medicaid, if I lose anything to these cuts, I’ll be homeless.”
“Without Medicaid, I would have had to choose between getting care and continuing my education,” said Lex Wurth, a health care worker in Sioux City who graduated college on Medicaid. “I’m here to hold accountable those who are trying to strip Medicaid away from over 100,000 Iowans. Rep. Randy Feensta … I’m holding you accountable for the current and future closings of rural hospitals, and for the Iowans who have and will lose access to health care.”
“I stand here as a cancer survivor because I have the resources to cover out-of-pocket costs,” said State Sen. Catelin Drey. “Every Iowan deserves the same outcome as mine. Under a decade of Republican leadership, it’s becoming harder and harder for that to be true.”
“Republicans and Governor Reynolds privatized Medicaid, and what we’ve seen in almost a decade is that it’s cost the state more, and we have less services. That’s not the direction we should go,” said State Rep. J.D. Scholten. “When you talk about the Big Billionaire Bailout, it puts stress on our health care services all across Iowa.”
The Republicans running for governor support this health care disaster:
- Randy Feenstra voted to pass Reynolds’ disastrous Medicaid privatization scheme in the state legislature, which has driven up costs, ripped away health care, hurt Iowans with disabilities, and closed rural hospitals.
- In Congress, Feenstra bragged about being a “key author” of his party’s deeply unpopular budget law that threatens health care for 110,000 Iowans and puts at least 23 rural hospitals on the brink of closure, as 117,890 Iowans are seeing their premiums skyrocket.
- Adam Steen praised D.C. Republicans passing the largest Medicaid cut in history and Reynolds privatizing Medicaid, saying “I support everything that Governor Reynolds is doing.”
- Zach Lahn has a history of opposing Medicaid expansion entirely — a position even more extreme than Reynolds’ disastrous privatization scheme.
- Brad Sherman and Eddie Andrews voted to kick thousands of Iowans off Medicaid and made it harder to get health insurance.
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