CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – An Iowa woman with brain cancer is urging the state’s congressional delegation to extend health care subsidies that she says are critical to affording her treatment.
Grace Calvert was diagnosed with Glioblastoma four months ago, a brain cancer with a median survival of 15 months. Doctors removed an egg-sized tumor and told her she likely had 22 months to live with treatment.
“In my case if I don’t have insurance I will die, and I’ll die sooner rather than later,” Calvert said.
Calvert uses insurance through the Affordable Care Act and qualifies for enhanced premium tax credits, which expire at the end of the year. When Republicans in Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act this summer, they decided not to extend the credits.
Using a benefits calculator from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy nonprofit, Calvert found her payments would more than double to more than $300 a month once the credits sunset.
“They’re saying you don’t need these advanced subsidies, why should you need that? Well I do need it because I have cancer and I’m probably going to die of it. They gave me 22 months,” Calvert said.
She said the enhanced credits could be the difference between receiving treatment or not.
“Yeah if we didn’t have this good insurance that we could afford, I don’t think I’d even be able to get treatment,” Calvert said.
Calvert blames the credits expiring on the Big Beautiful Bill, which Iowa’s Republican representatives and senators all supported. She said she has tried to speak with some of Iowa’s representatives and senators but hasn’t had success.
“I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t care if I die,” Calvert said. “You can’t tell me you work for us and then do something that is going to harm us or kill us.”
Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson sent statements to TV9.
Miller-Meeks said, “Obamacare was sold as a way to make health care more affordable, but for many Iowa families, premiums and deductibles have continued to rise every single year since it was enacted, all while coverage has narrowed.”
Hinson said, “I want to work in a bipartisan manner to ensure health care is more affordable for Americans. Unfortunately, until Democrats reopen the government, we can’t do that.”
Democrats have said they refuse to work with Republicans to reopen the government until the majority party agrees to extend tax credits for Americans using Obamacare.
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