An Iowa town hall crowd grew rowdy after a father of a son with disabilities confronted a Republican lawmaker about his support for the Republicans’ health care replacement bill.
“I would’ve thought somewhere along the line, somebody would’ve said that when you impact kids with special needs — who we sort of have an obligation to take care of our own here in Iowa — that we would’ve thought that maybe we shouldn’t be doing this,” Dale Todd, whose son has epilepsy, told Rep. Rod Blum Tuesday at a Cedar Rapids town hall.
Adam is on Medicaid and his school nurse, who administers Adam’s medication, is paid for by Medicaid dollars, Todd said.
If enacted, the House version of the bill, which was narrowly passed last week but faces likely changes in the Senate, would significantly overhaul Medicaid. It would send the states a fixed amount of money for each Medicaid enrollee, known as a per-capita cap.
States could also opt to receive federal Medicaid funding as a block grant for the adults and children in their programs. That would mean states would get a fixed amount of federal funding each year regardless of how many participants are in the program.
But Blum said Dale should not worry about his son’s health care being dropped.
“Under the new health care bill, Adam will not be negatively impacted under this bill,” he said.
Blum told the packed room that senior citizens, veterans and people with special needs “are three groups of people in this country that we must take care of.”
“They’re at the top of the list in my book,” he added.
“We should never, ever cut a dollar to someone like Adam, ever,” he said. “We need to take care of them.”
Toward the end of the town hall, Blum was asked about President Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey, saying he was supportive of the decision.
“I think it’s probably time for Comey to go. The FBI has been way too involved in politics — both sides of the aisle. Been too politicized. And the President has every authority under the Constitution to terminate the director of the FBI,” Blum said, to which the crowd chanted, “Do your job.”
Blum, who represents a competitive district in eastern Iowa, made headlines the day before when he walked out of an interview after being pressed over a decision to require that town hall attendees verify residency to attend.