(A report from the Iowa News Service) – As affordable healthcare supporters in Iowa use grassroots campaigns to call on policymakers to address rising costs and accessibility, a former health professional is reflecting on how the industry has changed. New federal guidelines from the Trump administration are putting specialty visits and even some basic medical services out of reach for some Iowans.
Des Moines-based retired healthcare administrator Jill Kordick says cuts have put strains on service providers, which means patients who need care have to take extra steps to get it.
Kordick says some people are forced to delay and defer care, or forego it altogether. Grassroots
organizers have taken their cause to the state capitol in recent years, but so far, Kordick says, accessibility
and affordability are growing concerns for Iowans.
Staffing costs combined with lower federal reimbursement rates have forced at least one suburban Des Moines clinic to close, forcing people to seek out other options – which Kordick says creates a healthcare bottleneck.
Polling by Pew Research shows that a majority of American believe the federal government bears the
responsibility for making sure people have access to health care.
