Adam Zabner represents Iowa House district 90, covering part of Iowa City.
Last May, when Iowa Republicans passed the health and human services budget for the current fiscal year, I asked the bill’s floor manager, State Representative Ann Meyer, a simple question. What would happen when U.S. Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Randy Feenstra, Zach Nunn, and Ashley Hinson voted to cut federal health care funding?
Iowa Capital Dispatch reported at the time:
Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, questioned whether the state budget proposal will provide enough funds to backfill potential federal cuts to Medicaid, as discussed in recent U.S. House committee meetings. Meyer reiterated the Legislature was “fully funding” Medicaid, and argued the congressional actions being considered will not result in a loss of health care coverage.
“When you talk about federal cuts to Medicaid, federal cuts to Medicaid are going to be fraud and abuse – those are not cuts to Medicaid health care,” Meyer said.
Zabner said he was concerned that the funding proposal will not provide adequate money to make up for shortfalls in federal funding for the public health coverage program.
“Let me be clear: if the federal government cuts funding for Medicaid, and we are not prepared, we will see the biggest loss of rural health care in the history of our state,” Zabner said. “Medicaid is a lifeline for so many Iowans. Nearly 40 percent of births in the state. Nearly 700,000 people in rural, urban, suburban Iowa rely on this program for crucial services. And I cannot support a bill that leaves us unprepared to ensure that Iowans continue to receive the care they need, whether or not the federal government does their job and provides funding for that care.”
Watch our exchange, and part of Representative Meyer’s closing remarks, when she insisted Republicans were “fully funding” Medicaid and dismissed my concerns as “inaccurate” and “fearmongering.”
I spent last summer traveling around the state, hearing from Iowans who would be impacted by Medicaid cuts. From Iowa City to Muscatine to Keosauqua, Iowans rallied against the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” and begged Miller-Meeks to oppose health care cuts. They warned the cuts would be destructive to health care in Iowa.
Unfortunately, they were right. The decision by Republicans at the federal level to massively cut health care in order to lower taxes for their billionaire donors is already hurting Iowa.
This month, Iowa Republican lawmakers passed and Governor Kim Reynolds signed House File 2739, a bill that would cover part of our state’s new Medicaid shortfall through a new tax on HMO health care plans. This tax could increase an average Iowa family’s health insurance premiums by up to $500 per year. I think increasing health care costs is wrong, particularly at a time when many Iowans are already struggling with rising costs and stagnant wages.
I proposed two amendments. The first would have increased health care costs for legislators by the same percentage. Even as Republicans voted to increase your health care costs, they opposed increasing their own by declaring my amendment not germane, and voting against suspending the rules to consider my proposal.
My second amendment would have forced Reynolds to sell a new state plane (purchased with federal COVID-19 relief money) to help fund the Medicaid shortfall.
Republicans declared that amendment not germane as well and voted down my motion to consider it immediately.
Even with this new Republican health care tax, the state of Iowa’s Medicaid program is on shaky ground. Next year’s shortfall is projected to be even larger, and rural hospitals and clinics are in trouble.
The Republican trifectas in Washington and in Des Moines have been destructive for health care in our state. Iowans deserve leaders who will end the privatization of Medicaid and fight to make sure every Iowan has access to quality, affordable health care.
