Health Care Reform: Senator Grassley – American’s Relate Obamacare to Public Option

The Senate’s so-called Gang of Six, three Republicans and three Democrats met today to consider dropping the public option, and to tax the priciest plan in the newly released Senate Finance Committee Health Care Bill. Following the release of the Senate Finance Committee’s plan from Chairman Baucus (D-MT), Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) made some remarks in an interview with CNN this morning.

During the August Recess, Senator Grassley believed that efforts to create a bipartisan bill were not going to be possible, and today, he said there needed to be more time, especially with President Obama speaking on Wednesday about his health care goals.

The interview also talked about Senator Baucus’ plan, which has no public plan but non-profit co-ops would provide insurance for people who are uninsured. Senator’s Baucus plan also expands Medicaid eligibility, and levies a fee on insurance companies who provide high-end Cadillac plans to help pay for the overall reform.

Senator Grassley noted in response to Baucus’ proposal that he agreed with using co-ops, “because they’re consumer-driven and all the consumers benefit from it.” He also emphasized the co-ops are beneficial because “they’re organized by members, and there’s no federal government running the co-ops.” The Ranking member did say however, that if “somebody comes along and wants a federal board or the federal government to accept risks so we end up with a health care Fannie Mae, then that would be a no-no for him.”

On the issue of taxes, Grassley acknowledged that both the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation have said that “those costs will be passed on to the premium holders.” As a result, he noted that these taxes will “drive up the cost of insurance, maybe at a level of insurance that we shouldn’t be subsidizing in the first place.”

With regards to Obama’s speech tomorrow night, Senator Grassley asserted that his bipartisan work with Senator Baucus over the past few months is the best approach. He specifically mentioned that if a bipartisan effort is avoided, there are at least four Republican plans out there he would rather consider, even though the lack of publicity and coverage of these plans has been downplayed.

Senator Grassley also noted with regards to a fundraising letter he sent out for re-election, that his reference to Obama-care is what his constituents believe to be the public option in the health care bill. He reiterated that his constituents want him to defeat Obama-care because it’s the “eventual nationalization of health care in America, run entirely by the federal government.”

Ultimately, while much of the health care debate was cooled off in August, the release of Senator Baucus’ proposal, and President Obama speaking in front of Congress are the opening rounds for this continued debate. As Senator Grassley asserted that the people “in this country don’t want the government to take over federal health care,” much of this debate will be centered on what Obama says tomorrow night, and how this will effect the Senate and Congress versions of the plan play out.