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Democratic congressional candidate holds Medicaid roundtable after Ernst remarks • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]

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Date: 2025-06-04

In the fallout of U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s statement on proposed federal Medicaid cuts, state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, running for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, held a roundtable discussion Wednesday on Medicaid.

Trone Garriott criticized Republicans in Congress for the measure she and others have said will hurt Iowa’s health care system.

She is one of the Democratic candidates aiming for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, a Republican. Nunn, alongside Iowa’s other Republican representatives in the U.S. House, voted in favor of the budget reconciliation bill that analysts say would reduce federal spending for the program by $625 billion over the next decade.

The West Des Moines Democrat said she wanted to hold a town hall on the proposal because of the “dismissive statements” Iowa’s congressional delegation has made when talking about the impact of the Medicaid cuts — specifically referencing Ernst’s town hall statement that “we all are going to die” after an attendee yelled that people will die because of the cuts.

Trone Garriott also criticized Nunn and other members of Iowa’s House delegation for not hosting public events on the issue.

“We have seen our congressmen not hold open town halls and not have conversations to hear these hard stories, and we need to be listening so we can do a better job for the people of our state,” she said.

The changes to Medicaid include work requirements with several exemptions, including for people with disabilities and complex medical conditions, minors and seniors as well as pregnant people and parents of dependent children.

Republicans have argued the proposed changes will not impact Medicaid coverage for people in need, such as those with disabilities, and will instead target waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system. At an event last week, Nunn said public assistance programs like Medicaid, as well as Medicare and SNAP, help Americans, but “have to be used in a way to help Americans with a hand up, not a handout,” the Des Moines Register reported.

But Trone Garriott said she believed the work requirements will add new burdens on people with real health care needs, without necessarily addressing the actual problems in the system.

“They’re indiscriminate cuts,” Trone Garriott told reporters. “It’s not about addressing any kind of fraud — which is more an issue from providers and billing, so that’s not addressing that concern. And it’s already very stringent, very challenging to get on Medicaid. There’s a lot of people who should be on it who are not being served. So it’s actually the opposite problem we have … more people could be eligible, but the process is so challenging that they can’t get on and stay on Medicaid.”

Iowans at the roundtable event said the proposed Medicaid changes will make it more difficult for people with covered medical conditions to get the care they need.

Paula Connolly, the parent of an adult child with a rare disability, said that while she and her husband were raising their child as an infant, Medicaid — and later Medicare — were the only ways for her family to access the medicine and other specific items, such as specialized formula, needed for their son. Adding new barriers to Medicaid will not only make it harder for families like hers to access the support they need, Connolly said, but will also have a greater impact by decreasing the number of providers willing to provide services and health care through Medicaid.

She gave an example of Medicaid coverage for a wheelchair repair — an already months-long process that could stretch out longer if cuts to the program are made.

“If the person who fixes the wheelchair doesn’t get adequately compensated to run the business, then he can’t fix a wheelchair,” Connolly said. “Or if the part for the wheelchair takes a year to get, well, then you essentially don’t have that wheelchair. And that means as a family — because disability does not only impact the child, it impacts the family — that means we sit at home and we don’t get out. We’re not doing healthy things to destress with caregiving, we’re not going to church.”

Health care professionals echoed these concerns, saying the Medicaid cuts could put health care providers across the state either out of business or in a situation where they cannot treat all patients in need.

Ed Friedmann, a physician’s assistant who is the sole health care provider at the Redfield Rural Health Clinic, said Medicaid and health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act have helped keep the clinic in Redfield, a rural town in Dallas County, in business. Not having insurance does not stop hospitals and clinics from giving patients’ medical treatment, he said — but not having payment and reimbursement through public health programs for individuals who would otherwise be uninsured could lead to more rural health care providers shutting down.

“If Medicaid patients lose their insurance, there’ll be less income for the clinic, and less likely for the clinic to be able to continue going in a town like Redfield and towns throughout the United States,” Friedmann said.

Trone Garriott said having more uninsured people in the system will mean “health care providers have to shift costs when they can’t cover costs, which means raising costs on everyone.” If elected, she said she would support raising Medicaid reimbursement rates, tying them to economic indicators, as a way to help Iowa health care providers stay open.

“It’s already a narrow margin, as providers are trying to continue to serve Medicaid patients, and there are a lot of areas where they’re just not able to make that work,” Trone Garriott said. “So we’re seeing labor and delivery units close. We’re seeing dental care providers just unable to take Medicaid patients. We’re seeing more and more folks with Medicaid not being able to access care or waiting a long time to get it.”

Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans’ campaign arm, criticized the event in a statement, saying the budget reconciliation bill will provide benefits to Iowans.

“Radical lunatic Sarah Trone Garriott’s latest political circus act says it all: she’s on a mission to slap Iowa families with tax hikes, chase good-paying jobs out of the state, and hand out taxpayer-funded freebies to illegal immigrants,” Tuttle said. “Iowans aren’t buying it.”

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[1] Url: https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/06/04/state-sen-sarah-trone-garriott-holds-roundtable-on-proposed-medicaid-cuts/

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