Kennedy Visits Dubuque Clinic Facing $1.4 Million in Federal Cuts as Measles Cases Reach 2,566
Updated
Updated · KCRG · Aug 20
Kennedy Visits Dubuque Clinic Facing $1.4 Million in Federal Cuts as Measles Cases Reach 2,566
1 articles · Updated · KCRG · Aug 20
Summary
$1.4 million in looming federal cuts hung over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Wednesday tour of Crescent Community Health Center, a Dubuque clinic that serves 20,000 people a year.
Crescent's CEO said the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act would reduce support for the federally funded center, where about 60% of patients use Medicaid and 15% are uninsured.
Kennedy praised the clinic's whole-person care model and said it avoids the fragmentation and incentives he argues are hurting U.S. health care, while local leaders pressed for protections for community health centers.
2,566 confirmed measles cases across 46 states added pressure to the visit, with CDC data showing childhood vaccinations fell for a third straight year and nonmedical exemptions hit a record 4.2%, or about 155,000 children.
Dubuque public health officials also used the visit to attack Kennedy's vaccine messaging and broader administration health-policy cuts, including reductions they said were tied to CDC outbreak-response problems.