Hey Grassley - Listen to your constituents!
Posted on May 4th, 2009 by Jason Rosenbaum in Congress Watch
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A Des Moines Register Poll is out with independent confirmation of Health Care for America Now's results - Americans support a public health insurance option, and that includes Americans in Iowa:
More than half of Iowans support a public health insurance plan, and almost half of the state's residents who aren't already insured say they would consider enrolling.
The Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, conducted March 30 to April 1 by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, showed 56 percent of Iowans support creation of a public plan, 37 percent oppose the idea and 7 percent are unsure.
Clearly, that news hasn't made its way to their Senator, Chuck Grassley's, ears. Today in Politico, after paying homage to bipartisanship, Grassley spends a good chunk of his column inches attacking that central tenet of President Obama's health care plan, and the thing Iowans want.
He even trots out the cost-shifting argument private industry uses to convince policy makers overpriced medical services are worth the money. Of course, they're not. The only people that complain about cost-shifting are the ones that aren't efficient enough to deal with lower prices [pdf]. And guess what? The ones that are more efficient provide better quality care, too.
It would be nice if Grassley would listen to the facts, or his constituents. America wants the choice of a public health insurance option. Iowa wants the choice of a public health insurance option. And private insurers who get it can in fact compete on lower prices, and deliver higher quality care.