CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – KCRG-TV9s Fact Check team looked into a new political ad claiming Iowa Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson voted in favor of cuts to rural hospitals and health care coverage.
Hinson, who currently represents Iowa’s second congressional district, is running for U.S. Senate against Democratic State Representative Josh Turek. The Cook Political Report recently called the race a toss-up.
VoteVets is behind the TV ad called “reverse”, which is now airing in Iowa. The group formed 10 years ago to try to get more veterans elected and push for progressive values.
The group’s ad centers on Hinson’s vote in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping reform bill that Republicans in Congress passed and President Trump signed into law last year.
“Cut Coverage for 100,000 Iowans”
One of the claims in the ad says “Hinson voted to cut coverage for 100,000 Iowans.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the law will increase the number of Americans without health insurance by around 10 million by 2034 because of reforms to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act Marketplace and other policies like work requirements.
Of that 10 million, the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit advocating for health policy, estimates the cuts would impact coverage for 60,000 to 100,000 Iowans.
“Double-digit Premium Hikes”
The ad then claims Hinson “voted for double-digit premium hikes.”
This refers to the end of tax credit subsidies for plans on the insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, also known as Obamacare. The temporary tax credits were added as part of COVID-19 relief in 2021 and set to expire at the end of 2025.
House Democrats and a handful of Republicans voted to extend the subsidies in January but the measure failed in the Senate. Hinson voted against the extension.
The Iowa Insurance Division reported ACA Marketplace plans increased premiums 12% to 27% for this year and an increase for next year of as high as 23%. That amounts to hundreds of dollars more per year in premium costs.
Rural Hospital Closures
The final claim in this ad says Hinson’s vote “pushed 20 rural Iowa hospitals to the brink of closing.”
The number of hospitals at risk of closing comes from a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a policy group that advocates for more affordable health care payment practices. The report warns more than 700 rural hospitals nationwide are at risk of closing, 29 of them in Iowa. However, that data was based on financial reports from before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law.
A more recent update to that report from July 2026 put the number of rural Iowa hospitals at risk of closure at 8, with 2 facing an immediate risk of closure. That same report blames low payments from private insurance companies for putting rural hospitals at financial risk, not Medicaid cuts.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act also included a $50 billion fund to support rural hospitals.
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