Rob Sand Talks Medicaid, Rural Hospital Funding with Manning Regional Healthcare Leaders

Rob Sand: “Everywhere I go, I hear from Iowans about how sky-high medical costs are already breaking their banks.”

DES MOINES, IA – Last Saturday, Rob Sand visited Manning Regional Healthcare Center to hear directly from health care workers about how newly passed Medicaid cuts will affect Iowans’ access to health care, threaten critical access hospitals, and put pressure on the rural communities that rely on them. During the visit, Rob toured the facility and spoke with leadership about the real-world consequences of these cuts — from staffing challenges to possibly putting expansion plans on hold. 

Read more about Rob’s visit to Manning Regional below:

• Carroll Times Herald: Sand visits Manning hospital, addresses Medicaid concerns
• • Sand toured the MRHC and spoke with leadership at the facility to learn more about the challenges rural healthcare facilities are facing. He found out that the MRHC is possibly halting expansion plans due to their fear regarding funding levels following the bill President Trump signed into law on July 4.
  • “They were on a list of hospitals identified as being heavily funded by Medicaid. And as it turns out, they have got the state’s only inpatient treatment facility for substance abuse, and so a lot of their patients there at that facility are Medicaid patients,” Sand said, explaining his visit to the facility.
  • “[The MRHC] feels confident that they won’t close, but they are concerned about their financial position. It’s going to hurt them financially. There’s 20 hospitals across the state that are vulnerable right now, and this would have a tremendous impact there, oftentimes in rural places in Iowa, about 40% of people rely on Medicaid,” Sand said.
• KCIM Radio: Rob Sand Visits MRHC Following Big, Beautiful Bill’s Passage
• • Rob Sand, the current Iowa State Auditor and 2026 Iowa gubernatorial candidate, traveled to Carroll County over the weekend to speak with officials at Manning Regional Healthcare Center (MRHC) about the expected impact of President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill on rural providers.
  • Rural providers, such as MRHC, rely on payments from government-funded plans to operate, and Sand says it could lead to more rural hospital closures. Sand says, “Everywhere I go, I hear from Iowans about how sky-high medical costs are already breaking their banks. [Last] week, I held 14 town halls in three days across Northwest Iowa, and at nearly every stop I heard stories from Iowans about what Medicaid means for their families and for rural health care access.”

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