New nonpartisan group to advocate for polices to lower healthcare costs at Iowa Capitol

by Skylar Tallal

Tue, November 11, 2025 at 5:45 PM DES MOINES, Iowa — While many Iowans are seeing their health care premiums increase, a new Iowa organization is pushing for policies to help lower costs.

"There's just so much up in the air right now that people are, are nervous," Phil Jeneary the executive director of Iowans for Affordable Healthcare, said.

Iowans for Affordable Healthcare is a new nonpartisan group advocating for policies that help Iowans obtain cost-friendly and accessible healthcare. They plan to tackle the issue by looking to stop the rising costs, hold special interests accountable, and make medical billing transparent.

"Just since 2009, Iowans have seen their healthcare premiums by 67%," Jeneary said. "The number of Iowans that are experiencing medical debt has increased by 55%."

Without Congressional action, the Affordable Care Act subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year. The group said this would increase insurance costs for nearly 130,000 Iowans on ACA while also driving up costs for everyone else. "We've seen across the country there are people seeing increase 40, 50, 60% and in the thousands of dollars that they would have to pay," Jeneary said. "When people don't have health insurance or it's too expensive, they are skipping regular appointments, not maybe filling prescriptions, not doing the things that they would normally do. Then those things tend to snowball." https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/new-nonpartisan-group-to-advocate-for-polices-to-lower-healthcare-costs-at-iowa-capitol-iowans-for-affordable-healthcare-congress-aca-organizations-des-moines