ADEL, Iowa — A town hall meeting here Wednesday with Sen. Chuck Grassley attracted nearly 600 people.
Some asked about taxes and the counting of undocumented immigrants in the 2010 Census. But almost everyone wanted to get a word in about health care. And, by and large, just about every viewpoint found its way into the hourlong question-and-answer session.
The atmosphere was relatively calm at the meeting, where it appeared that most in attendance opposed the legislative proposals that Democrats have brought to committees in the House and Senate. Similar meetings in other states have turned contentious.
With several signs in the crowd calling for his removal from office and criticizing a government-run health care plan, Grassley followed up by addressing the audience’s top issue. His speech gained more cheers than jeers.
“We’re in the middle of one of the most controversial issues, and it ought to be controversial,” he said. “Life and death affects every American. Health care is life and death. And, if something is done, it’s going to affect one-sixth of the U.S. economy.”
Grassley said he adamantly opposed a government-run health care system and would not vote for any bills currently circulating in committee in the House or Senate.
“There are two bills in committees in the House, written under the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and I would not vote for either of those bills,” he said to a round of applause. “There’s another bill in a Senate committee I do not sit on — the Kennedy-Dodd bill — and I would not support that one, either.”
Grassley also spoke about his involvement in the Gang of Six, three Republicans and three Democrats from the Senate Finance Committee, which he said is working in a bipartisan manner on the issue. Other members are Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, all Democrats; and Michael Enzi of Wyoming and Olympia Snowe of Maine, both Republicans.
Grassley said not all Democrats are behind the idea of a government-run health care system, and he is trying to work with them to find an alternative.
“I am against a government plan, and I will continue to fight against one. But, if we do have one, I will fight to make sure Congress is included,” he said. “If it’s good enough for you, it’s going to be good enough for me.”
As the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Grassley said he reports weekly to the Senate Republican Caucus on his dealings with regard to health care. He told the audience the caucus has asked him to fight for three main points: no rationing of health care; no government-run health care, and tort reform.
He also said his insistence on “staying at the table” in the health care debate may have staved off Democratic approval of a government-run system months ago. He said Democrats have enough votes in the Senate to pass such legislation without Republican support.
“That worries me, and it’s the main reason why I continue to talk with the Democrats,” he said. “If they go ahead, and they get done what they want, it will change health care in America forever.”
In many ways, he said, he feels like “the boy with his finger in the dike, holding back the ocean.”
Grassley said he will remain at the table, pushing his ideas, until he’s “shoved away from the table.” He said the biggest way to change the current health care system would be through tort reform, saying caps on medical malpractice awards in Texas have been effective in holding down costs.
Grassley also held town-hall meetings Wednesday in Afton, Winterset and Panora.
In Panora, he was asked if he would criticize conservatives who have inaccurately suggested that a provision in the House bill would in effect create “death panels” to determine when people should die.
In fact, the provision would provide Medicare reimbursement to doctors who counsel patients about what medical interventions they prefer near the end of life and about how to prepare instructions, such as living wills. Such sessions would be voluntary. many patients currently must foot the bill for them.
“If you’ve got a government-run health-care program and you have crowding out, and then you go to a Canadian-style plan and everyone starts studying what England does ... when you couple this with all of other fears people have and what they do in England, then you get the idea that somebody is going to decide Grandma has lived too long,” Grassley said in response, neither backing or refuting the claim.
This report includes material from the Washington Post.
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