Eastern Iowa nonprofits discuss cuts to Medicaid, SNAP

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Nonprofits in Cedar Rapids are discussing how cuts to SNAP and Medicaid could affect people in Iowa.

The Hawkeye Area Community Action Program, known as HACAP, helps distribute food to local food pantries in seven eastern Iowa counties.

The people who run it say cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition program called SNAP could result in as many as 10 million fewer meals for recipients in the state.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan government agency, says the “Big Beautiful Bill” would cut SNAP by $267 billion through 2034, the largest cut in the program’s history.

The bill would implement tighter work requirements for snap recipients who are parents with children.

HACAP says the cuts to SNAP would force more people to rely on already strained food pantries.

“We’re going to continue to provide. But we are going to also have a situation where we are going to have to ration and stretch out budgets thin and stretch our food inventory thin as well,” said Aron Becht, HACAP community food systems manager.

Several healthcare groups in Eastern Iowa also said work requirements and cuts to Medicaid could impact the majority of their patients.

The Congressional Budget Office says cuts to Medicaid would leave almost 11 million more people uninsured by 2034.

“52% of people who come to our clinic, we bill Medicaid. 67% in our crisis services bill Medicaid, and 99% of our specialty services bill Medicaid. So… it’s huge,” said Theresa Graham-Mineart, Abbe Health outpatient clinic services director.

The US Senate is currently considering the house bill and, and several conservative deficit hawks like Wisconsin’s Sen. Ron Johnson, Kentucky’s Rand Paul and Missouri’s Josh Hawley have expressed concerns about it.

Republicans cannot lose more than three Senators for the legislation to pass.

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