Iowa Senate GOP budget bill would bar taxpayer funds, Medicaid, for gender-affirming care – KTVO

Now
63
Fri
64
Sat
64
by Feven Zewdu
TOPICS:
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A new GOP-backed budget bill is moving through the Iowa Senate. The bill includes a plan to stop taxpayer funding, like Medicaid, from paying for gender-affirming care.
This isn't the first attempt by Iowa Republicans to put these restrictions in place, but there is worry that this new bill may have a better chance at sticking now that gender identity protections are being removed from Iowa's Civil Rights Act.

Advocates like Keenan Crow with One Iowa say the broad language in this budget bill is dangerous.
"Sad, terrified, everything kind of all at once, a lot of the time, simply because of how dangerous this stuff is when we're talking about denying basic medically necessary care simply because of who somebody is," Crow said.
This is a repeated effort to bar Medicaid assistance for transgender Iowans. In 2021, a judge struck down a 2019 law banning tax dollars for gender-affirming medical care, citing the Iowa Civil Rights act and the state constitution.
While the state supreme court declined the case in 2023 and let that ruling against the 2019 ban stand, Iowa's new law stripping civil rights protections for transgender Iowans could lead to a different result in court.
However, Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner argues it would still be unconstitutional.
"What happened earlier this session was a rollback of rights such as fair housing, employment, and financial issues,” Weiner said. “I don't think, it should not have impacted some of these other things that remain in the constitution."
Now, advocates worry the new GOP bill is too broad and could end up impacting mental health care for transgender Iowans on Medicaid.
"My biggest concern, although I have a lot, but my biggest concern with this piece of legislation is that we will be denying people things like basic medications and mental health support simply because they are related to treating somebody's gender dysphoria,” Crow said. “That's an extremely dangerous thing to do."
Crow says this bill is just the latest in a string of attacks from the GOP-controlled legislature on the LGBTQ+ community.
“What it says is that there are some Iowans that for some reason don't deserve to have their medically necessary care covered simply because of who they are,” Crow said. “That's not fair. That's not what the average Iowan would agree with."
They say the message from lawmakers is unjust and could be a breach of the Equal Protections Act.
“It seems to me to be facially unfair and unequal in its application of the law, and I think ultimately justice will be what justice is but you know, it's really hard to see how that is not a violation of equal protection," Crow said.
This is part of the Senate's state budget proposal and the House has its own, competing budget bill. The session is supposed to end on Friday, but it’s expected that lawmakers will have to stay in Des Moines longer to get something passed.
Iowa’s News Now has reached out to Republican lawmakers about this bill but hasn’t heard back yet.

source