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Home State Sen. Hartsuch, former Feenstra colleague, ‘blasts’ Feenstra for supporting bill that imposed...

Sen. Hartsuch, former Feenstra colleague, ‘blasts’ Feenstra for supporting bill that imposed tax on occupied non-medicare nursing home beds

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Former Senator David Hartsuch, a Republican physician from Bettendorf, blasted Senator Feenstra for his support of 2009 SF 476 which imposed a tax on occupied non-medicare nursing home beds.  Said Senator Hartsuch, “While this was called a Nursing Home Quality Assessment, it is nothing but a tax on the most vulnerable of our citizens—most of whom are widows.  This tax is approximately $2600 per year and places an unethical tax burden on those with limited incomes who are already stressed trying to meet the financial costs of long-term care.”

Senator Hartsuch was on the Iowa Health and Human Services Committee and served with Senator Feenstra in 2009 when this bill became law.  Senator Hartsuch accused Senator Feenstra of taxing those who couldn’t fight back and of simply “going along to get along” with the Democrat Majority.

Said Senator Hartsuch, “The promise of this legislation was that the tax would bring in additional federal Medicaid dollars for nursing homes and increase Medicaid reimbursements. According to the 2017 Iowa Department of Human Services Report 19 nursing homes paid more tax than they received from it.  This was just a tax intended to back fill then Democrat Governor Chet Culver’s bloated budget. They knew that Medicaid re-imbursements needed to increase so they taxed non-medicare beds to do it.  This only raised the already high cost of long-term care in Iowa.  I always regarded this as immoral and unconstitutional, but Randy Feenstra obviously saw no problem with this.”

Senator Hartsuch claims to know both personally and has given his unqualified support to Congressman Steve King in the upcoming 4th district Congressional race.  According to Senator Hartsuch, “Donald Trump, Steve King, and I know how difficult it is to stand up for what is right and to be attacked by the false narratives and fake news of liberals. It’s even worse when those attacks come from liberals of our own party.

Senator Hartsuch raised concerns that in light of House Democrats’ attempts to falsely impeach Donald Trump, Randy Feenstra would likely fall in line with the existing house majority so as not to appear extreme.  In his letter Senator Hartsuch regarding Senator Feenstra said, “Jeff Flake comes to mind.”

Senator Hartsuch commended the character and perseverance of Congressman Steve King, and hopes that the primary voters of the 4th district will send Steve King back to Washington with the support he needs and send the message that taxing nursing home residents is fundamentally immoral.

Author: Press Release

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