Blum faces fire on health care

Congressman Rod Blum makes his appearance in Cedar Rapids to discuss health care.

Jason Estrada, [email protected]

May 9, 2017

U.S. Rep. Rod Blum, R-Iowa, speaks during an event in Johnson Hall on the Kirkwood main campus in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, May, 9, 2017.

CEDAR RAPIDS — An audience of approximately 700 people heard from Iowa’s 1st District Congressman Rod Blum, R-Iowa, on Tuesday at a town hall at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.
Many were looking for answers after he voted in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

“We’re talking about the individual market, that’s 12,000 people in the 1st District — 12,000,” Blum said. “If you’re on Medicare today, nothing changes.” The crowd responded with anger, but he tried to reassure the audience if they were on Medicaid, then nothing will change. The crowd was still furious with him.

Iowa Republican Rep. Rod Blum listens to Dale Todd, of Cedar Rapids, while he speaks during an event in Johnson Hall on the Kirkwood main campus in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, May, 9, 2017. Todd’s son, Adam, has a disability and asked Blum about his intentions to cut Medicare funding related to his son’s condition. Blum fielded questions from constituents and crowd members. Earlier in the week Blum walked out of ABC affiliate KCRG-TV’s interview prior to a town hall, sparking national headlines. (The Daily Iowan/Joseph Cress)

Ian Babcock, an advocacy strategist at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said many organizations have been trying to reach Blum to hold him accountable in Washington, D.C., for his voting choices. He, along with other Planned Parenthood advocates, attended the town hall in protest.

“Originally, Rod Blum had said he was not going vote to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act,” he said. “He did vote to do so, and there are a lot of people who are looking for answers, especially from a Planned Parenthood standpoint.”

Lisa Goodwin, a Cedar Rapids resident, said she came to the town hall to make sure there was attention brought to the fact that more than three-quarters of Iowa support women’s choice and thinks it is not right for Blum to be careless about the issue.

“I wanted to make sure that he understood that as he marginalized that 12,000, got that number under 12,000, I’m one of those 12,000, and that matters,” she said. “And I just think they need to be held accountable.”

Although Goodwin was not happy with Blum’s statements, she said she was more surprised about the ignorance he showed in his statements about science.

“It’s science, it’s not right or wrong — it’s science,” she said. “It is what it is, and you don’t get to corporate answer for science,” she said.

Goodwin was also not surprised when Blum ignored her question about the unavailability of facilities in Iowa to absorb patients who are currently at Planned Parenthood. She said she thinks his head is closed to the issue and doesn’t know about it.

Iowa City resident Emily Silliman said Blum is lying about the statements he made regarding health care. She attended the protest because she is concerned about the repeal of the Affordable Care Act but mostly about national security.

“Somebody came up and passed out this [paper] about [how] the health insurance act that was passed doesn’t change the group market,” she said. “In other words, does it change the employer-based coverage? Oh, no change. Well, that’s a lie.”

Silliman said she talked to someone who works for an insurance consultant who said insurance companies are already preparing in policies that take out different kinds of health coverages ,including pre-existing conditions and mental health. She said the insurance companies are already preparing to offer policies that don’t cover different kind of coverages.

“I don’t know if it’s so much to impeach Trump, but really get a robust investigation going and get it going fast,” she said. “Because we could possibly be in deep trouble.”