Health Care Reform Debate Heats Up

WASHINGTON—As Congress prepares to tackle health care
reform, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, staked his ground at an early
morning briefing with reporters Thursday. Reform needs to be all
encompassing, but if it includes a new federal health benefit,
Grassley said, that could be a deal-breaker.

As the ranking member of the Senate Finance
Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid,
Grassley–who has previously worked with HME stakeholders on issues
including competitive bidding–will be a key player in shaping the
nation’s health reform effort. That effort is now on the fast
track, with legislators from both sides of the aisle working to get
a bill to the floor by June.

“I think if it doesn’t get done this year, it
won’t be done for the next four years,” Grassley said
of health reform, citing the timing of the country’s
political cycle. “If it doesn’t get done this year, why
won’t it get done? One word: elections.”

What’s more, Grassley said the overhaul must be
comprehensive. “If we do something incremental this year
we’re never going to get comprehensive health reform,”
he said during the briefing, hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation,
Families
USA and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

While “everything’s on the table” as far as
negotiating wide-ranging reform, Grassley said, he pointed to one
big stumbling block: differences over a government insurance plan,
which some call a “public plan option,” that would be
open to most Americans. “This is a deal-breaker for
Republicans if it’s in and it’s a deal-breaker for
Democrats if it’s not,” Grassley said.

Some Democrats believe such a benefit would improve quality of
care and decrease costs. But Grassley and other Republicans oppose
creating a public plan because, he said, it would be “a step
toward single-payer, government-run health care for
everyone.” He added that a study by the Lewin Group estimated
such a system and could prompt as many as 118 million people to
leave private health plans for government-sponsored health
care.

In the end, he said, “The major difference is the extent
to which we will have a market-based insurance system or a
government-based insurance system.”

While he did not touch on HME issues in the briefing, Grassley
did say health reform legislation should be budget-neutral, with
any new spending offset by cuts or new revenue. The HME industry is
already on edge about further cuts to oxygen and the renewed threat
of Medicare competitive bidding. Earlier this year, however,
Grassley introduced the Medicare Rural Health Access improvement
Act of 2009, which would exempt rural areas from competitive
bidding, although it would not eliminate the program entirely.

Last week, Grassley appeared in a YouTube video asking
for people’s thoughts on health reform. “It only makes sense to
seek input on an issue like health care reform where so many
Americans have a stake. I look forward to taking common sense input
from YouTube users to the national debate on health care reform,”
he said.

Grassley’s video will be featured through tomorrow on YouTube’s Senate
Hub, where anyone can add comments. In a second video today, he
will respond to some of the comments posted to the original
video.