Forty to Sixty Percent of Iowans Enrolled in the ACA Could Lose Their Health Care

DES MOINES - Iowa will forfeit $4.1 billion if the Republican’s new budget plan goes through according to - a flyer that North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis passed out during a Senate GOP meeting yesterday.

According to Tillis, if Iowa’s Republican lawmakers move forward with their budget bill, which proposes to lower the maximum allowable provider tax rate from 6 percent to 3.5 percent, Iowa stands to lose billions of dollars over the next decade.

The budget bill would also reduce current enrollment in the Affordable Care Act - which Iowa’s small business owners depend on - by 47 percent to 57 percent. That means between 11 million and 13 million Americans will be kicked off their healthcare plans, according to Wakley. The budget bill is expected to raise premiums by 7 percent to 11 percent for ACA users. [The average 40-year-old ACA enrollee pays $544 per month without subsidies, meaning a 7 percent increase will cost Americans an additional $38 per month.] These further cuts come after Iowa’s House Republicans already voted to enact the largest Medicaid cuts in history.

After this bad news broke, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn signed onto yet another meaningless letter just weeks after they voted to enact the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.

Miller-Meeks and Nunn are hoping this letter will save them from backlash over voting to gut health care for millions of Americans and cause Iowans to lose their insurance, but Iowans can see through their empty attempt to fix their mistakes.

“Iowa Republicans voted for a big, bad, budget-busting bill that will kick Iowans off their insurance, close rural hospitals, raise energy prices on Iowa homeowners, cost our state money, and add $2.4 trillion to the national debt – all so they can afford tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations,” said Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart. “This budget bill may be good for Republicans’ donors, but it’s no good for Iowans.  It is costly and dangerous for Iowans  who will now be looking for better representation in 2026.”

Read more about what the Republican’s budget bill will do to Iowa:

• Republican’s Budget Bill Would Devastate Rural Hospitals
• Household Energy Costs Could Increase by $550 Annually Under Republican’s Budget Cuts
• Iowa Family Farmer Calls Out Hinson For Hiking Health Insurance Premiums at Town Hall
• CEO of Washington County Hospital Calls Republicans’ Medicaid Cuts a ‘Crisis” for Iowa Hospitals
• Nonpartisan Scorekeeper Says Republicans Tax Bill Will Benefit Billionaires, Increase Prices for Most Americans

Even Iowa Republicans are having a hard time defending their big, bad, budget-busting bill.