My name is Dr. Emily Boevers. I’m an OB/GYN here in Iowa. I care for women before, during and after pregnancy - as well as during their adolescence and after menopause. And I can tell you without a doubt that Medicaid saves lives. Medicaid is the backbone of rural healthcare access in Iowa.

Many of the families I care for in rural Iowa rely on Medicaid to afford prenatal visits, hospital births, and NICU care for their babies. Without it, they simply wouldn’t be able to access the services that they need to keep themselves and their families healthy. Healthy families are what make up healthy communities right here in Iowa - and that is not a partisan issue.

That’s why I’m here today–because what’s happening in Washington right now is an attack on American families, the practice of medicine, and our sworn oath to do no harm. That oath includes speaking out when my patients’ lives are used as bargaining chips to fund yet another tax giveaway for billionaires–a $1.1 tax break to be exact.

Let’s be clear: this so-called “big, beautiful bill” is a moral failure by the very representatives who are supposed to serve everyday Iowans like my patients. It is time we remind Senators Ernst and Grassley that they work for us. They are public servants–accountable to the people they were elected to represent, not the ultra-wealthy. They are elected to advocate for IOWANS. Iowans need healthcare, and Iowans need a strong Medicaid system.

Here in Iowa, we know what underfunded rural hospitals look like. We’ve watched clinics close their doors. We’ve seen patients drive hours to get care–or go without it altogether. And when Senator Joni Ernst was asked how she could support a measure that would cause people to die, she shrugged and said, “We’re all going to die.”

As a doctor, I find that response simply unacceptable. Because I’ve looked parents in the eye as they pray for their baby to survive. I’ve spoken to partners who have thanked me for saving their wives and childrens lives. I’ve seen what happens when patients can’t afford prenatal care or medications. I don’t get to shrug and walk away, whether it’s preeclampsia or diabetes or the flu. Iowans’ lives may not matter to Senator Ernst–but they matter to me.

If this legislation passes, we’ll see even more moms struggling to access prenatal care. We’ll see more babies in NICUs whose parents are forced to choose between paying for their child’s care and putting food on the table. And our rural and safety net hospitals cannot bear the costs of uncompensated care just so BILLIONAIRES can pay even less in taxes, and middle class Iowans pay more.

We need leaders who value life enough to invest in it–through programs like Medicaid, food assistance, education and affordable health care. Not leaders who turn their backs on suffering to score political points or please their wealthy donors.

Iowans deserve better. Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.
But in order to do that, we need to stand up to the billionaires and the elected officials they have purchased - hands off our healthcare.