Iowa House lawmakers passed bills restricting SNAP food eligibility and enforcing Medicaid work requirements Wednesday.
Senate File 615, which the Senate passed on Tuesday, would require Medicaid recipients to work at least 20 hours a week to maintain eligibility.
In a 61-35 vote in favor of the bill, the House passed and amended the bill Wednesday, sending it back to the Senate for consideration. The bill faced bipartisan opposition with all Democrats and three Republicans voting in opposition.
The bill would make exceptions for children, adults 65 or older, and others who are not reasonably able to work.
It would also direct the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish work requirements for other public assistance programs similar to the ones under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Iowa Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Panora, said Medicaid provides a critical safety net to ensure vulnerable populations have access to essential health care. However, Nordman said more able-bodied individuals are accessing Medicaid benefits without the requirement of work.
“While we should always be compassionate and supporting those in need, it is important to refocus Medicaid on its core mission so that we can ensure it remains a sustainable program for those who truly depend on it,” Norman said. “In Iowa, it is estimated that more than 100,000 able-bodied people on Medicaid expansion are not working to their capacity or what they should be.”
The bill would also require Iowa HHS to discontinue its Medicaid expansion program if work requirements are prohibited as an eligibility requirement under federal law.
The Iowa Medicaid expansion program is known as the Iowa Health and Wellness plan, which opened up Medicaid to recipients who make too much for Medicaid but not enough for private insurance.
More than 180,000 Iowans receive health insurance from the program.
Nordman said the legislation will help individuals transition off reliance on the government into a position where they can thrive independently.
“While Medicaid expansion has been a vital safety net, it is not meant to be a permanent solution,” he said.
Iowa Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, D-Hiawatha, said this restriction is a “Trojan horse” requiring the federal government to either accept the waiver or the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan will be terminated, meaning over 180,000 Iowans will lose health insurance.
“The greed of the oligarchy is insatiable, and I know of no reason why this government should deprive 182,000 Iowans of their health care,” she said.
According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency, the bill would result in roughly 12.5 percent of Iowans — or 32,000 people — on the program losing coverage due to work requirements.
Iowa Rep. Ken Croken, R-Davenport, said the legislation will ruin much of the hospital infrastructure in rural Iowa and burden Iowa’s urban hospital infrastructure.
Croken said the legislation will drive even more physicians out of the state and pointed to a statistic showing Iowa is ranked last in the nation for per capita physicians.
Croken warned this may cause people to delay seeking health care and to show up at an emergency room instead of a primary care physician’s office, which will have financial implications across Iowa.
“[It] goes right on the list,” Croken said, referring to the bill. “After all the other action we’ve taken to discourage people from coming to Iowa, goes on as yet, another good reason why families will not come to Iowa.”
Iowa House passed bill to limit SNAP food eligibility
Iowa House Republicans passed a bill that would provide $1 million in funds to the Double Up Food Bucks Program and alter which foods are eligible for food stamps Wednesday.
In a 56-40 vote in favor of the bill, the bill faced bipartisan opposition with all Democrats and eight Republicans voting against the legislation.
Under House File 970, the Iowa HHS’s general fund would be used to provide $1 million in supplemental funds for the program in fiscal 2026, but only if the HHS is granted a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to limit eligible foods.
The Iowa Healthiest State Initiative, which currently runs the Double Up Food Bucks Program — a health incentive program that allows supplemental nutrition assistance programs, or SNAP, users to double their dollars — would match the $1 million from the state HHS to fund the program. However, the bill would also restrict which foods could be purchased with SNAP.
Under the bill, food items eligible for SNAP would only include foods based on necessary nutrition for good health, including, but not limited to grains, dairy, meat, eggs, peanut butter and nuts, pasta, rice, legumes, and fruits and vegetables.
The previous version of the bill was more restrictive, only allowing food from those categories.
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Iowa Senate lawmakers advanced a similar bill, but it did not include the restrictions on SNAP.
Iowa Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, said the policy is reckless, and “unelected bureaucrats” from the state HHS should not be allowed to decide what Iowans can eat.
“It is ridiculous to micromanage people’s diets,” she said. “People do best when they have the freedom to make their own food decisions. Kids who are already living in poverty and without access to the basics are being harmed by these reckless policy changes.”
Iowa Rep. Heather Matson, D-Ankeny, voted in opposition to the bill and questioned how it will impact other food programs such as Meals on Wheels, soup kitchens, and congregate meal sites.
Matson said the bill is mean-spirited and will do nothing to make people healthier.
“It will just make it harder for folks who are already struggling to get by to live their lives and make the best decisions for themselves and their families,” Matson said.
Nordman pointed to a 2016 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which showed roughly 20 cents of every food stamp dollar were spent on sweetened drinks, desserts, or salty snacks.
He also pointed to the statistic that Iowa is ranked 11th in the nation for adult obesity rates with over 36 percent of adults considered obese, according to the Iowa HHS. One in six children in Iowa are considered obese, according to the 2022-23 State of Childhood Obesity report.
He said Iowans’ tax dollars should not be used to purchase unhealthy drinks and foods.
“Iowans are generous people who are willing to extend a helping hand to those in our communities that are in need, whether it be charitable giving or with the taxes taken out of their hard-earned paychecks,” Nordmand said. “But when it comes to their tax dollars, they expect there be reasonable guardrails on where their money is being spent. House Republicans do not believe tax dollars should be purchasing things like Skittles and Monster Energy Drinks within a program that is supposed to help alleviate hunger.”
Nordman connected both bills passed by the House Wednesday — Senate File 615 and House File 970 — as requirements “needed to ensure we are helping Iowans rise out of poverty and lead a fulfilling and healthy life.”