Grassley Says Deficit Will Limit Scope Of Health-care Overhaul
Grassley, the top Republican on the finance committee, said a bipartisan plan being discussed by panel members will have to be scaled back to have any chance of passing in the wake of new deficit projections released this week. He also said he may not agree to a health-care compromise unless hes certain his states hospitals wont be harmed.
“Its going to have a big impact on whether Ill even support something,” he said at a town-hall meeting Aug. 26 in Le Mars, Iowa. He voiced concern that rural hospitals will be hurt by a pledge last month by hospital trade groups to produce $155 billion in cost savings over 10 years as part of an Obama administration drive to curb health-care expenditures.
Grassleys opinion matters because his talks with two other Republicans and three Democrats on the finance panel offer the last chance for a bipartisan accord to remake the $2.5 trillion medical-care system. Democrats are threatening a party-line vote if they cant agree, a move that Republicans warn will undercut public support for any plan.
His comments came during a monthlong recess dominated by town-hall meetings across the U.S. that have highlighted the unease among many voters that a revamp of the health-care system may jeopardize their current coverage.
Voter Reservations
Grassley, an Iowa farmer who has held the Senate seat since 1980, heard some of those complaints in Republican- dominated western Iowa communities he visited Aug. 26. Several people expressed reservations about the growth of the governments role at a time when the Obama administration has expanded its reach into the auto and banking industries.
Brian Rosener, the chairman of the Woodbury County Republican Party, demanded at the Le Mars town-hall meeting that Grassley quit the bipartisan talks.
“I have a great deal of concern with your continuing to negotiate,” Rosener said to cheers from some in the audience. “I would appreciate if nothing gets done, rather than something, under the administration.”
Another man who identified himself as a small-business owner countered that, describing how he struggles with rising health-insurance premiums for his workers. He called on Grassley to support the overhaul in honor of the late Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who spent years working on bipartisan health-care compromises.
“What can we do to find common ground?” he said as many in the crowd groaned.
Committed to Talks
Still, he said, a forecast by the Congressional Budget Office that deficits between 2010 and 2019 will total $7.1 trillion calls for a more-limited measure than the $900 billion bill the bipartisan group was discussing last month.
“Were going to be looking at smaller numbers,” he said.
The deficit projection also dooms $1 trillion measures already moving through the House and approved by the Senate health committee, Grassley said.
Compromising U.S. System
Grassley criticized lobbyists for the hospital trade groups who hatched the savings accord with the White House. He said they were “compromising our system of government” by not better involving local members in the talks.
Hell meet with the hospital administrators and a lobbyist from the American Hospital Association in Des Moines on Sept. 3 to go over the deal, he said.
The AHA didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.