RECAP: Nearly One Year Since Hinson-Supported Medicaid Cuts Passed, Josh Turek Hosts Roundtable to Hear Directly from Iowans About State of Health Care

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June 22, 2026

RECAP: Nearly One Year Since Hinson-Supported Medicaid Cuts Passed, Josh Turek Hosts Roundtable to Hear Directly from Iowans About State of Health Care

Providers warn of impending impacts, patients express fears about the future

Des Moines, IA – As we near the one year anniversary of Ashley Hinson’s vote for the Big Beautiful Bill, Josh Turek brought together health care providers and patients for a conversation about the impact of Medicaid cuts on access, affordability, and quality of care across Iowa.

Hinson said she was “proud” to vote for the legislation that cut health care coverage for more than 110,000 Iowans, jeopardized the survival of rural hospitals, upended the caregiver system, and ripped away cancer research funding from one of the only states with a growing cancer rate. Now, Iowans are experiencing the consequences.

“Ashley Hinson ripped health care away from Iowans just to give tax breaks to billionaires, and she will continue to put herself and her wealthy donors above Iowans. I certainly know firsthand the importance of access to quality health care. I underwent 21 surgeries before the age of 12, most of them at Shriners Hospital because it was the only way that my family could afford them. I am someone that believes that health care is a human right. When I’m in the United States Senate, I’m going to do everything that I can to fight for a public option, because I believe that every single Iowan deserves access to quality health care,” said Josh Turek.

“In primary care, we see the ravages of poverty, and in general, people who fall through the cracks of our society. That’s where, to me, the damages of these federal policies, like the Big Beautiful Bill, are really apparent. I have patients who are no longer my patients because they don’t have health insurance to come see me,” said Dr. Austin Baeth, primary care physician in Des Moines.

“At the pharmacy, we see, especially in mental health, providers won’t take Medicaid anymore because it’s just not worth it. So we have patients that are on medications for their mental health that no longer can get a prescription because their provider won’t see them or they can’t get in to a provider that takes Medicaid. So then they’re in the pharmacy having a crisis because they can get their prescription. And we can’t help them, unfortunately,” said **Brad Magg, owner of Spring City Pharmacy in Colfax. **

“I can see the eventual delays in the hospital setting, where the patients either have to delay their care, or travel further for their primary care, or end up skipping it, if they aren’t able to. And they get sicker, and then they’re in the hospital, and then whether they are sicker when they came in and started, or they don’t have the right insurance to get to a facility afterwards, there’s just less discharges out of the hospital, less people can transfer out of the ICU, less people can get in from the ER, and then they’ll be back in the ER waiting room,” said Amy Hennings, BSN, RN, critical care nurse, UnityPoint Methodist Hospital in Des Moines.

“It’s proven that patients that don’t have insurance have a higher mortality rate. I can share one heartbreaking story that impacted me at Broadlawns. A young woman got sick at home, she had to call out, she was getting a fever, she had chills. She refused to go to the emergency room because she didn’t have insurance, but her family begged her. And they finally brought her in, and she was septic, and she died. She probably could have been cured with $4 worth of penicillin. That’s not a rare story. We see that, and it’s heartbreaking,” said Dr. Larry Severidt, faculty doctor at Broadlawns Medical Center.

“In my part of the state, there’s a high rate of poverty in those counties in southern Iowa. So we have a lot of Medicaid recipients, and I’ve spoken with the hospital administrators who talk not only about the lack of payment, but the lag time in payments to their hospitals. And that ends up impacting all of us, because it’s no secret that Ottumwa Regional sits on the brink of closure every single day, and we’ve seen other medical clinics all around us close as well,” said Mary Stewart, Ottumwa resident.

Just since passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, five Iowa health care centers have announced closures, elimination of units, or significant reduction in services in both rural and urban communities. Many of these clinics see the cuts coming their way, and know they just can’t survive. Because of the elimination of Affordable Care Act tax credits that Hinson voted for, 119,000 Iowans have seen their health insurance premiums double on average.

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