Letters to the editor

Disappointed in Washington County supervisors

To the editor:

On July 1, Senate File 418 goes into effect in the state of Iowa. If you aren’t familiar with this law, it strikes gender identity from protection under the Iowa Civil Rights law. It was the first time in history that any state has revoked civil rights from a protected group. It was shameful.

Starting July 1, any business in Iowa that has less than 15 employees can legally discriminate against transgender people. Transgender folks would have no legal recourse under state law. Federal law only requires businesses with 15 or more employees not to discriminate.

Washington residents are fair-minded, compassionate, and are not willing to see anyone discriminated against for any reason. It isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue; it is a human rights issue.

A group of concerned Washington County residents presented a proposal to the County Board to enact a Civil Rights Ordinance for the county. While we were pleased the County Board gave us time to present our views, none of them asked a question or expressed their view.

Instead, they invited Representative Jeff Shipley, who does not represent our county nor lives in this county, to present his view of why SF 418 was necessary. It was not impressive. I doubt anyone really understood the rationale for stripping people of civil rights after that presentation.

But the point is, it was a dodge by the County Board. Rather than speak for themselves and run the risk of being called out for not protecting the rights of all citizens, they punted the ball to Shipley. Such cowardice.

Comments afterward were even more troubling. Chair of the Board, Richard Young tried to deflect responsibility by saying an ordinance like this will only cover rural areas. That didn’t seem to bother them when they rushed as fast as they could to make Washington a gun sanctuary in 2021.

The Board said they have no plans to consider an ordinance to protect the rights of all Washington residents after hearing from four residents (me included) and receiving signed petitions from over 200 people. I hope every voter in Washington County will remember this when these folks come up for re-election.

Remember, they are not willing to stand up for rights for the most vulnerable today. I can predict that they will not stand up for your rights in the future either, unless of course, you are a straight-white, Republican.

– Dan Henderson, Washington

DOGE cuts hurt AmeriCorps

To the editor:

Stop Fraud, Waste and Abuse has been a mantra, but there is no significant evidence that this has happened under DOGE.

Here in Henry, Lee and Des Moines Counties, the result is lost funding to AmeriCorps and other similar programs. I am most familiar with plans for upgrading the Oakland Mills County Park that were to be aided by AmeriCorps workers: no funding, no workers, plans are on hold.

My daughter and son-in-law were both Americorps workers in the Seattle area, and not only did they help others, but gained so much from the experience. It is time for southeast Iowa residents to acknowledge that cutting taxes under the guise of eliminating fraud, waste and abuse affects us all, and perhaps results in a greater amount of fraud, waste and abuse.

Support our parks (national, state and local), support volunteer workers (national, state, local), support aid agencies (national, state, local) such as food programs, RSVP, SNAP, USAID and so much more. And realize that by paying taxes, we are making our world a better place within which to live.

– Joel Brown, Mt. Pleasant

What good are cheaper drugs if there’s no hospital left to prescribe them?

To the editor:

In her June 3 guest column in the Poweshiek County Chronicle Republican, Rep. Ashley Hinson applauded President Trump’s executive orders targeting pharmacy benefit managers — or PBMs — the industry middlemen who often drive up costs and squeeze out small-town pharmacies. I don’t disagree with her that prescription drug prices are too high. They are. I see it every week — patients rationing insulin, skipping medications, and making impossible choices between food and medicine.

But as much as I worry about the price of medicine, I’m even more alarmed by the growing collapse of the places and people who provide it.

What’s missing from Hinson’s message is the other half of the story: how these same politicians, while decrying PBMs, are pushing forward a federal budget that would slash Medicaid, trigger Medicare cuts, and devastate the very systems rural Iowans depend on.

You can’t claim to protect patients while gutting the programs that keep them alive.

I work in rehabilitation care, serving stroke survivors, older adults, and people living with disabilities. Many live in rural communities. And many rely on Medicaid — not as a handout, but as the only way to afford therapy, home health services, or transportation after a brain injury.

One of my patients, a retired farmer, now drives 45 minutes to refill oxygen tanks — something the local clinic used to provide before it closed last year. He didn’t ask for pity. He just asked whether he’d still be able to make it through the harvest.

According to a June 2025 policy brief based on Congressional Budget Office data, the Medicaid provisions in the House-passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” are expected to increase hospital uncompensated care costs by more than $42 billion over the next decade. That means fewer providers accepting Medicaid, more rural hospitals on the brink, and longer delays for emergency care — particularly in areas like ours, where resources are already thin.

Even for veterans, dialysis appointments often depend on a fragile mix of VA, Medicare, and Medicaid coverage — and cuts to any part of that system put lives at risk.

These aren’t abstract policy debates. They’re choices. They happen when lawmakers prioritize tax breaks over treatment beds. When a child’s speech therapy session or a veteran’s dialysis appointment becomes budgetary collateral.

In Iowa’s schools, Medicaid also quietly pays for services that federal law mandates but local budgets can’t cover: speech-language therapy, nursing care, mental health services, and wheelchair-accessible transportation. Cutting Medicaid doesn’t just affect clinics — it affects classrooms.

So yes, we need to address PBM abuse and lower drug costs. But let’s not pretend an executive order — which lasts only as long as the president who signed it — is a substitute for real, long-term reform. And let’s not allow it to distract from the deeper threat: the slow dismantling of rural health infrastructure under the guise of fiscal responsibility.

If Rep. Hinson truly wants to protect rural Iowa, she’ll vote like our hospitals matter — not just talk like our pharmacies do.

– Dr. Christopher R. Crossett, Cedar Rapids (Born and raised in Washington, Iowa)