PANORA, Iowa (AP) — Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican who is a key bargainer on health care reform, was playing to packed crowds across the state Wednesday who pressed him on the issue and left little doubt that they aren't happy with what's on the table.
“It seems to me that people are expressing, not just on health care, but people are just very scared about the direction the country is taking,” Grassley said.
He spent much of time making it clear he hasn't signed off on a final version and said he's got limits as to how far he will go. “I don't want the government or a bureaucrat working for the government to come between you and your doctor,” said Grassley. “I think the stakes are very, very high.”
Grassley defended his decision to negotiate. “Some people have asked why I'm involved in health care negotiations. We're talking. I think since Iowa is so low in reimbursement for Medicare whenever health care is up, I should be involved. It could all fall apart tomorrow.”
Nearly 500 people jammed a sweltering community center meeting room, with virtually all describing health reform as a government takeover of the nation's health care system that's a prescription for disaster.
“They are having a hard time running the postal system and I don't know how in the world they think they could run health care,” said Dean Hopkins, of Panora.
The meetings Grassley held throughout the day were all packed, and dominated by critics. The questions were tough but respectful and there was little of the shouting that's dominated in other parts of the country.
Grassley is the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and he's been deep in bargaining seeking a compromise health care plan that could get some Republican votes. He made it clear there are portions of the current measure he can't swallow.
Grassley has opposed President Obama's call for creation of a public option that Obama says would drive up competition for force private insurers too reduce their rates.
He says only people who are in the country legally should be covered by a government funded health care program. He also says he's opposed to any plan that “determines when you're going to pull the plug on grandma.”
None of the bills in Congress would provide health insurance to illegal immigrants, but it didn't keep people from expressing concern about it.
Obama has declared that the provision causing the uproar over end-of-life care only authorizes Medicare to pay doctors for counseling about end-of-life care. He says it would not “basically pull the plug on grandma because we decided that it's too expensive to let her live anymore.”
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