With Health Care as a Top Issue to Iowans, Senator Ernst’s Votes to Repeal Coverage for 150,000 Iowans Pose Major Challenges to Her Vulnerable Re-election
DES MOINES – As Iowa Republicans face renewed scrutiny from reporters, editorial boards, and patients over their privatization of Medicaid, Senator Joni Ernst is facing a Medicaid reckoning of her own: Ernst’s dangerously out-of-step record of voting to repeal Medicaid expansion poses enormous challenges to her vulnerable re-election.
Iowans rank health care as a top issue in this election, and adding to Ernst’s troubles, recent GOP internal polling shows voters trust Democrats more than Republicans on the issue.
Despite Senator Ernst’s attempts to cover up her record on the campaign trail, no amount of equivocation can hide the disastrous impacts of her votes to repeal Medicaid expansion:
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Iowa rural hospitals could be forced to shut their doors.
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Over 150,000 Iowans would lose their health coverage.
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Iowa would lose over $5 billion in Medicaid funding over the next decade.
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Iowa’s uninsured rate could skyrocket near pre-ACA highs.
Senator Ernst’s career fight to repeal Medicaid expansion is the tip of the iceberg of her lengthy record voting to dismantle the vital health care Iowans rely on. Ernst bragged about her “courage” to gut protections for coverage of pre-existing conditions, voted to defend toxic “junk” insurance plans that can deny vital coverage options, sponsored a bill allowing insurers to drive up monthly premiums for Iowans, and continues to stand with big drug companies against common-sense efforts to lower drug costs.