Congressional Candidate Discusses Healthcare During Sigourney Visit

SIGOURNEY – ​​Former member of the Iowa House of Representatives and current candidate running for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District Christina Bohannan visited the Sigourney Senior Center on April 3 to talk about senior care. The event was put on by the Rural Restoration Project, a non-profit designed to bring candidates on speaking tours to Mahaska, Keokuk, Jefferson, Van Buren and Henry counties. “Rural voices sometimes do not get heard,” said Keokuk County Democratic Party Chair Kay Graham. “We don’t have the vote power behind us...Keokuk County has less than 10,000 people, not even a majority of them are Democrats. We’re not a big voting block, but rural voices need to be heard.”

Graham brought up the fact that there is limited oversight and staffing problems for nursing homes in Iowa, which has led to alleged incidents of abuse at a local care center. An attendee stated that three different nursing homes in Keokuk County are owned by the same bottom-line motivated out-of-state management company. She stated she never thought they would see nursing home abuse in Keokuk County, because most of the staff at the nursing homes are locals. Graham stated that Iowa ranks 49th out of 50 on the number of inspectors to nursing homes. She stated that most nursing homes want to give quality care, but lack staff and training.

Bohannan stated that she grew up in a small town, that didn’t have the votes or money needed for political influence. She stated that neither of her parents graduated high school and that, when bad things happened, nobody invested in her community. She brought up her father, a construction worker. “My dad worked really hard, every day. Nobody ever worked harder than he did, but when he got sick with Emphysema, they canceled his health insurance,” said Bohannan. “And then we really lost everything. I mean, we didn’t have much before, but at that point, we were literally choosing between paying for his medicines and putting food on the table and putting gas in the car and all that. So I know what that is like here and, when I look at what’s happening with our rural communities in Iowa, it is just sad, because I feel like politicians are turning their backs on our rural communities. That is what I’m fighting for.”

She brought up a “heartbreaking” story of a man she spoke with, who lost vision in one eye because he couldn’t afford the drug Eliquis after a stroke. She stated that he cannot drive now and that his quality of life is limited. Bohannan brought up her mother, who unknowingly lost her health insurance after switching bank accounts and forgetting to switch it over. She stated that her mother was terrified that something would happen before she could get her health insurance fixed, leaving her with tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills that she could not pay. “People should not live in fear like that,” Bohannan said. “And they should not go blind because they cannot blind because they can’t afford a drug, when the drug companies’ profits are higher than just about any other industry that we see in this country. That is not how this should work. We should respect our seniors more.”

Bohannan criticized her opponent, incumbent Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, for voting against allowing Medicare to negotiate to lower prescription drug prices. Bohannan claimed that Miller-Meeks wants to privatize Social Security and raise the retirement age. Bohannan stated that Miller-Meeks has forgotten who she represents and instead listens to corporate donors, special interest groups, and party bosses. She pointed out that Miller-Meeks has taken $170,000 in campaign donations from the pharmaceutical industry and claimed that that was the reason the congresswoman had voted the way she had.

“That’s what these Rural Restoration tours are all about, is an opportunity for me to get out and talk to all of these local communities about the things that really matter,” said Bohannan. “And putting aside the crazy fighting and extremist politics we see in Washington DC. I’m tired of it. Everybody’s tired of it. You know, we have lost sight of what government is supposed to be about. The job is simple. I go out, all around my district. I talk to people, like I’m doing today, then I got to Washington DC and I fight like hell to try to make lives better based on what I’ve heard. That’s it. That’s the job, and that’s what the voters want, but that’s not what we have right now.”

Bohannan stated that Miller-Meeks was in lockstep with billionaire CEOs and had taken $150,000 from the gas and oil industry, causing her to refuse to hold oil companies accountable for “price gouging,” even as the country sees record gas, grocery, and drug prices. Bohannan stated that Miller-Meeks was not a bad person, but does not have the ability or willingness to stand up to Washington DC politics and instead became part of it. Bohannan stated that the U.S. is seeing “hyper-partisanship” where politicians just do what their party says and refuse to work with the opposite party, even when it benefits their districts. She claimed that she had stood up to her own party many times in the past and would do so again and work with Republicans to help the people of Iowa. 

“It is beneath us, as a country, and as a government,” said Bohannan. “It is not how our representative government is supposed to work. I don’t know sometimes, whether people are so extreme on things or whether they’re just caving in to what the extremes want to do, because they think that’s what they have to do to keep getting reelected, or keep getting their PAC checks, or whatever it is, but it’s wrong. It’s just wrong. And in my view, this is not about the right and the left, it is about right and wrong...And I’m doing the right thing for our people. And I’m sick of it. I’ve had it. I’m fed up and I know the people of Iowa are fed up too, because the people of Iowa are good, hardworking people. We believe in common sense, fairness, and community. And what we’re seeing in Washington DC is none of that.” 

An attendee asked Bohannan about oversight in nursing homes. Bohannan stated that, when she was in the Iowa legislature, she helped pass a bill giving comprehensive protection in Iowa against people who would commit physical, emotional, or financial abuse of elders. She stated that although Iowa has the laws needed, oversight is a huge problem, caused by a lack of funding.

She stated that the lack of in-home nursing care was a growing problem in Iowa. Bohannan brought up the lack of childcare, saying that it wasn’t just a problem for families, but a problem for the economy, because people, mostly women, have to leave work to take care of children or aging parents. She stated that businesses are facing a workforce crisis. Bohannan stated that more investment in childcare and eldercare is needed. She stated that, unlike some Democrats who want to “spend first and ask questions later,” she believes in smart strategic investment, and that childcare is a problem that the market is not figuring out.

One attendee brought up the privatization of Medicaid in Iowa several years ago, claiming that it resulted in parents of adult children with special needs having their insurance cut, leaving them unable to afford professional caregivers. Bohannan stated that a lot of people were unhappy with the privatization of Medicaid and that it had caused a domino effect affecting programs across the state.

An attendee brought up housing costs, saying that many seniors want to downsize to smaller homes, but cannot afford to. Bohannan called affordable housing a huge problem, saying that young people she’d spoken to do not believe they will ever be able to afford a house. She stated there needs to be investment in affordable housing in Iowa. She noted that housing assistance exists for the very poor, who cannot afford housing at all, and stated that it should be extended to the lower middle class, who do not need total assistance but still cannot afford housing on their own. She noted that many people have to drive 45 minutes or an hour each morning to be able to afford homes.

Bohannan asked about specific bills she would like to work on if elected. She stated that Iowa is losing rural hospitals and needs investment to keep them open. “People are having trouble (getting to hospitals) when they have an accident or a stroke, when those early minutes are really important,” said Bohannan.

She also talked about recruiting physicians to come to Iowa and stay in the state. She pointed out a lack of OBYNs as especially bad, claiming that Iowa was 49th in the country for the number of OBGYNs. “We are almost at a crisis point with that, and women who do want to have children are having to be transported 45 minutes away to have a child, and if there are any complications or anything, they’re going to have difficulty getting the care they need.”