For 627,900 Iowans To Hand Out Tax Breaks To The Rich and Big Corporations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –  December  10, 2024

Parker Williamson, Press Secretary

press@progressiowa.org

Reports released by The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and KFF show Republicans want to cut billions from Medicaid and put health care at risk for 627,900 Iowans in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.

As the largest health insurance program in the country, providing health care to more than 70 million people, Medicaid is an essential pillar of our health care system. The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid to cover more working Americans who do not make enough to afford private coverage. Now, 40 states, both red and blue, have expanded it, saving lives, keeping hospitals open, saving states money, and improving the well-being of countless Americans. Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and the states, and it is supported by 76 percent of Americans. It covers one in four Americans, including kids, moms, seniors, people of color, rural Americans, and people with disabilities. Every family knows someone who counts on Medicaid. If MAGA Republicans get their way, Medicaid will be cut — taking health care away from hardworking families across Iowa, instead of helping them.

• The GOP is putting health care at risk for 627,900 or 20 percent of Iowans including:
  • 46,000 seniors,
  • 274,000 children,
  • And 81,000 people with disabilities.

• Republicans will create a $434,000,000 hole in the Iowa state budget to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. 

• Iowa has a trigger law which means health care will immediately be ripped away from 191,100 Iowans if the GOP succeeds in gutting funding for Medicaid expansion.

Key Points: The GOP Plan to Gut Medicaid

Republicans Want to Gut Federal Funding for Medicaid, Forcing States to Cut Benefits and Kick People Off Coverage. Three proposals would dramatically reduce federal funding for Medicaid: block grants, per capita caps, and reducing Medicare matching rates. Currently, the federal government pays between 50 percent and 77 percent of enrollees’ Medicaid costs, and more for certain high-value services. Republicans’ proposals to slash billions in federal funding from Medicaid would strain state budgets and leave tens of millions of people uninsured.

Republicans Want To Cut The Lifeline That Keeps Rural Hospitals Open. Medicaid helps fund rural hospitals by ensuring more patients can pay for their care. Rural hospitals in Medicaid expansion states are 62 percent less likely to close. In 2023, over 600 rural hospitals were at risk of closing in the near future, almost all of which were within non-expansion states. If Republicans cut Medicaid expansion, more rural hospitals will be forced to close their doors.

Republican Proposals Would Decimate Access To Essential Services Like Maternity Care And Long-Term Care. Medicaid is the single largest payer for long-term care, maternity care, and mental health services. Nearly a third of adults have received maternity care, home health care, or nursing home care through Medicaid. Nearly one in five adults struggling with mental illness have access to care through Medicaid. If Republicans have their way, millions of people will lose access to essential care.

Republicans Want To Throw Millions Off Their Coverage By Adding Burdensome Work Reporting Requirements To Medicaid. By imposing so-called work requirements, Republicans seek to cut Medicaid and kick millions of people off the rolls. Research shows, including research from analysts at Iowa’s Legislative Services Agency, that work reporting requirements cost states money and do not improve people’s ability to find work. In Georgia, a GOP alternative to Medicaid expansion emphasizing work requirements cost taxpayers $26 million, only provided coverage to 3,500 people, and resulted in consulting firms pocketing 90 percent of the funding. If Republicans succeed in pushing work requirements, up to 21 million Americans could be denied Medicaid coverage.

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