Medicaid and Social Security dominate Iowa Senate debate

Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek clashed over Medicaid spending, health care and Social Security during their first debate in Iowa’s closely contested Senate race, offering voters sharply different accounts of how to protect access to care and preserve retirement benefits. Turek made Hinson’s vote for the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act a central target, saying its estimated $1 trillion reduction in Medicaid spending would mean fewer services and support for Iowans. He also said 110,000 Iowans would lose health coverage and cited 27,000 disabled residents on Medicaid waitlists. Those figures were claims made by Turek during the debate; the available reporting did not independently verify them. Hinson said a federal Rural Health Transformation Program would offset Medicaid spending reductions, and attributed much of the savings to work requirements and eligibility changes. She argued the program should prioritize working people with low incomes. The candidates’ competing descriptions of the law’s effects and the proposed offset were not independently resolved in the debate accounts.