Grassley tells constituent: If you want good health insurance, ‘go work for the government.’
Grassley tells constituent: If you want good health insurance, ‘go work for the government.’
During a townhall in Waukon, IA Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked by a constituent of his: “Why is your insurance so much cheaper than my insurance and so better than my insurance?” When Grassley struggled to explain the details of his own health care plan, the elderly man followed up, “Okay, so how come I can’t have the same thing you have?” Grassley said, “You can. Just go work for the federal government.” Watch it:
Grassley has been at the forefront of railing against Obama’s health care plan, declaring, “We need to make sure that there’s no public option.” As Igor Volsky notes, there is an irony in government workers like Grassley complaining about “government-sponsored health care.” If Grassley wants to stand on principle, he could abandon his government-sponsored insurance and try his luck in the individual health insurance market.
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Nicely done by that constituent.
Grassley sounds like a dick who’s totally out of touch.
“Go work for John Deere. “Go work for the federal government.”
ARE THEY HIRING???
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:44 pmGrassley tells constituent: If you want good health insurance, ‘go work for the government”
– - Sen Grssly while u talk in IA u said “go wrk for the govment” When you are a “hammer” u think evrything is NAIL I’m no NAIL. Im a thumb. Ow.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:52 pm- – Btw, here’s Senator Grassley on Twitter, yesterday:
Enjoying thick chocolate malt at North English Malt Shop
11:52 AM Jul 2nd from txt
These people are our leaders.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 pmthe senator is not only wrong, he should be drafting a plan to cut the federal payroll in this time of recession. growth is over. we don’t need a class of people immune to the cycle of growth and layoffs. state and local governments change, and the federal government should do the same.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:56 pmIt is just so hard to give up all those health care industry bucks! I’m sure he would see the light if he didn’t have coverage. . . sounds like time to run him out of office.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:58 pmI have witnessed deaths of those that died because they could not get health insurance. To watch the despair and demise of one in this trap is something you never get over. The death you get over, but not the unfairness of it.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:59 pmoh the fruits of capitalism
americans love it until it effects them
then oh my this is not right I cannot get insurance because of pre existing conditions. then ouche.
what we lack is compassion for others
and we call ourselves a christian country
yea right
capitalism by its very nature puts profits over people
these are lessons learned the hard way but then how do we humans really learn. ie the hard way.
it will get much worse before it gets better.
hint third world status for the united states.
capitalism will self destruct it is self destructing now but politicans tell the folks it is just a recession.
and people still expect to get the truths from their politicans. we would not reelect them if they told us the truth.
americans think this is like the great depression and with time we will come back as a great and wealthy nation.
so many things are different now and after the war we were the only game in town not bombed out.
it will be an asian century.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 pmI would have accepted one response only: “You can. Here, take my insurance.”
It’s pretty ironic to see a republican pimping government jobs.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 pmI thought only the liberal msm asked gotcha questions. Obviously the questioner was a liberal plant since real republicans don’t ask such questions.
snarkle
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:15 pmthe great GOPsby Says:
the senator is not only wrong, he should be drafting a plan to cut the federal payroll in this time of recession. growth is over. we don’t need a class of people immune to the cycle of growth and layoffs. state and local governments change, and the federal government should do the same.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Except that the federal workforce has a wide economic impact at only $187 billion in pay and benefits out of an approx. $3 trillion budget. The federal workforce drives the president’s agenda, not the deficit, and it would be irresponsible to worsen the recession by knocking them off the payroll at a time when people are looking to the feds to find a floor to this downturn.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:18 pmThis is a clear example of how repubs think. In other words Grassley is saying, “You can’t have what I have because I am above people like you, I am better than you”. This is a extreme level of selfishness, but… he’s a repub.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 pmGrassley: “Just go work for the federal government.”
Constituent: “But I HATE the government. … … don’t I…?”
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:29 pmThose obstructing a public plan are in need of a journey. The journey being give up their existing insurance plans and go out there and try to buy another policy at their age and with pre existing conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes…. good luck in finding and affording. Then see how long you can exist as the stress knowing you can not get proper medical care will worsen your condition.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:29 pmIf everyone took Grassley up on his advice and went to work for the feds, that would be expanding the size of government and, therefore, out of touch with his orthodoxy. So how could Mr. Grassley say something like that?
Second, Mr. Grassley doesn’t understand that healthcare reform is an absolute requirement by the voting public and will require, at minimum, billions in seed money. Whether it’s a co-op (which I think is a waste of money and ineffective) or a public plan (!!), federal money will be required. Congressional story-telling alone on health care reform is insufficient.
So why not allow people to transfer 70% or so of their current premiums and receive better management of the pooled risk and peace-of-mind that when office visits and procedures need coverage, they will be covered without a bean counter denying them care because upper management expects giant bonuses?
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:31 pmBetter yet, Pothead, er, Grassley, just get a congressional seat! Even if you only serve a single term, you get a pension and healthcare for life!
Now that is one sweet deal. Think about it, Batshit Bachmann’s mental health bills, and meds, are going to be a lifetime burden shouldered by We the People, the taxpayers.
PEACE
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:36 pmNice catch – important issue, a constituent did a great job cornering his local repug critter, and a pretty outrageous response.
Course, the mainstream media will never report this stuff – that is really our bigger problem. This jerk is making these flippant statements because he is confident that it will not get any traction with his constituents.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:59 pmThe nerve of those in congress sitting up there like emperors denying affordable health care coverage to US while they enjoy the coverage WE buy for them.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:59 pmVERY SIMPLE QUESTION.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:11 pmWhy isn’t it asked more often?
Is this the first time this question was asked?
Why is it the corporate media NEVER asks this question?
It should have been asked so many times that it isn’t news.
If everyone worked for the govt (or even 90% of us), wouldn’t that be Big Government to the extreme ? Wouldn’t that then mean that all the businesses are also run by the govt ? Wouldn’t that then mean that all the wages are set by the govt ?
In short, wouldn’t that be the very world which both the liberals and conservatives decry ?
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:33 pmWhat about “Don’t get sick?”
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:36 pmVERY SIMPLE QUESTION.
Why isn’t it asked more often?
Wouldn’t matter how many times it was asked – the mainstream media would bury it in silence.
Eventually, we are going to have to accept that this is not about the endless stream of personalities that GOP parades before us. It is structural and entirely dependent on a compliant media that “catapults the propaganda”.
Until we talk about that and agree on economic actions/boycotts of the media and its corporate sponsors, nothing is going to change.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:39 pmLast night on AAR, Nicole Sandler talked of her boyfriend’s close friend. This friend lost his health insurance, was without insurance and went to the ER because of chest pain. He had some quick tests, told he was fine, sent home and he died yesterday of a massive heart attack before Nicole’s show. If he had had health insurance, proper tests and workup most likely would have saved his life.
Death due to loss of health insurance hits all walks of life. I don’t think most really realize or even care that 20 to 40 thousand lose their life each year because of lack of health insurance. This is unacceptable and should put a bad mark on our country in the history books regarding the past t6wo decades.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:49 pmhad enough – well said and precisely right. But we also have to acknowledge that unless there is change in the media landscape stories like this, the needless deaths of tens of thousands of Americans each year, and the exchange this post is based on get shoved down the memory hole.
This is not by happenstance – there is a structural bias in the media that undermines American democracy.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:54 pmChuck Grassley,s reply to the commoner, let them eat cake.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:06 amFunny, Senator Grassley doesn’t seem to want to give up his free socialized government health care plan… I would like to see one of these hypocritical pigs drop their free socialized government health care and go out into the real world and try to pick up some decent health insurance… Oh, I forgot, being a United States Senator is a “pre-existing condition” …
July 4th, 2009 at 12:11 amOval12345678 – why should any of these pigs give up anything. The media will not talk about the hypocracy and even many liberals/progressive are not ready to talk about the structural way the media is a tool of the right.
They are getting what they want and getting away with it.
It has to all start with a dialog about how the media fails this nation.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:13 amEventually, we are going to have to accept that this is not about the endless stream of personalities that GOP parades before us. It is structural and entirely dependent on a compliant media that “catapults the propaganda”.
Thom Hartmann frequently talks of how the media, insurance, Big Pharma,defense are all invested in one another. In my opinion congress is bought off by these corps and actions are hidden by the media. Congress will not even pass campaign finance reform to end some of this madness.
The good news is we have the internet to expose all the buying off and media’s failure to report the real facts.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:18 amAlso, Thom Hatmann talks of theyrule.net to back up his statements of corporations being invested in one another. He also wrote the book SCREWED explaining this.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:32 amIsn’t this the guy who sponsored that draconian bankruptcy bill?
July 4th, 2009 at 1:00 amTo borrow a quote from another commenter on another website,”I’ll be glad when this present political generation dies off.” But look at the damage they do in the meantime.
American people have woke up to the tricks and lies being told over the pass 8 years. Telling someone to get a job with this Recession is one way to lose your Senate Seat. I must give thanks to the Insurance Companies for telling the truth. They only insure healthy people and if you get sick they drop your insurance. Law Makers are being paid to vote against Obama and the American people by the Insurance Companies.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:09 amI concur with most of the sentiments here. The old man did a great service to the rest of the people at the meeting. Now, the Dems should be using this to bludgeon the Republicans on health care. Grassley like the rest of Congress get free medical care at the expense of the taxpayers. I hope he gets challenged in his next election so the voters can bounce him.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:13 amGod bless that older gentleman.
Grassley is a moron, and is a fine example of the utter decline of any sort of empathy and intelligent thought in repiggie circles.
All repiggies are in on the plot to destroy our society. Please don’t vote for any of that trash, even for local office. They are all in on it.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:25 am.
I WANT
CONGRESS
CARE
.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:12 am“VERY SIMPLE QUESTION.
Why isn’t it asked more often?
Is this the first time this question was asked?
Why is it the corporate media NEVER asks this question?
It should have been asked so many times that it isn’t news.”
very simple answer: corp fascism is alive and well in america.
along with the industrial military complex
and americans think the two party system serves them and not corp america.
corp america has even taken over the media that is why such questions are never printed or shown on tv.
even on some other blogs they refuse to post my comments as they are part of this corp media control of information.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:52 am“I concur with most of the sentiments here. The old man did a great service to the rest of the people at the meeting. Now, the Dems should be using this to bludgeon the Republicans on health care.”
wow were have you been hiding?
the demos are way too spineless to even challenge the repugs like this man did.
give the repubs credit they are if nothing else bold.
they have 40 seats in the senate and reid is in deep fear of them.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:55 amYou could also go to prison to get some decent health coverage.
Welcome to the Land of Opporunity.
Study shows Torture is GOOD for You
July 4th, 2009 at 5:25 amGrassley is a waste of health care, be it gov’t care or not.
July 4th, 2009 at 5:34 amAin’t that the truth!
July 4th, 2009 at 6:26 amSOCIALISM
July 4th, 2009 at 6:33 amGreat, work for Uncle Sam or be screwed… Is that what you are saying Grassley? Damn that is a really good Idea, coming from a Republican, who preaches one way and doing some really bad things behind everyones back.
Go suck a lemon…
July 4th, 2009 at 6:44 amhad enough Says:
Last night on AAR, Nicole Sandler talked of her boyfriend’s close friend. This friend lost his health insurance, was without insurance and went to the ER because of chest pain. He had some quick tests, told he was fine, sent home and he died yesterday of a massive heart attack before Nicole’s show. If he had had health insurance, proper tests and workup most likely would have saved his life.
Death due to loss of health insurance hits all walks of life. I don’t think most really realize or even care that 20 to 40 thousand lose their life each year because of lack of health insurance. This is unacceptable and should put a bad mark on our country in the history books regarding the past t6wo decades.
Sorry to read this.
The mental pain and anguish that some doctors and nurses put their sick and/or dying uninsured patients through are unreal. These characters can be rude, arrogrant, boastful, coldblooded, silly and vindictive and usually men with a God complex. Their treatment for their patients are subpar at its best, if one has a lucky day.
Why are some doctors and nurse concern with the bottom line and not towards helping people?
This offense is unforgivable especially from a profession who takes an oath to heal and help the sick and the dying.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:01 amShould one hundred million American workers follow Grassley’s advice by working for the government,then where all this money to pay for their health will be coming from?!
Mr. Grassley :
Governments receive money to spend..but governments do not make money.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:09 amQuite simply and directly, Grassley is not afraid of his constituents.
~V For Vendetta
July 4th, 2009 at 7:40 amAnother “let them eat cake” moment.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:10 amresearcher Says:
“I concur with most of the sentiments here. The old man did a great service to the rest of the people at the meeting. Now, the Dems should be using this to bludgeon the Republicans on health care.”
wow were have you been hiding?
the demos are way too spineless to even challenge the repugs like this man did.
give the repubs credit they are if nothing else bold.
they have 40 seats in the senate and reid is in deep fear of them.
I think the dems will understand it come next year too. There’s a fresh, new “the people’s” dems/progressives/liberals/bloggers who will keep the fact the facts. And will be voted into office.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:12 amOne thing we need to do is continue to let the right wingers speak, because when we do, the truth actually does escape their lips just as Grassley proved!
July 4th, 2009 at 8:19 amArrogant, self-centered bastard.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:19 amPardon me to the tp poster who wrote that the government doesn’t make money. The very nature of a government is to govern. The government controls the gold mine, it sets the laws and rakes in the doe, that’s the whole Enchilada.
If the government didn’t make money then how is the government capable of repaying loans?
July 4th, 2009 at 9:24 amGrassley DOES NOT have the same insurance every Gov. employee has – he’s seriously off on this one. Congress has made certain they get everything they think they deserve and certainly in this area as well as every other one.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:39 amWe will continue to have uncaring, unapologetic Representatives and Senators until we reform campaign finance laws. We have heard a few people come forward and tell us that certain lobbies are “too powerful” in DC. I have yet to hear one explain, in detail, just what this power is that the lobbyists have. Are they threatening the Congressman’s family or something? Or are they simply threatening to withhold money from their campaigns?
We seriously need campaign finance reform, or else the insurance and pharmaceutical industries will see to it that there is no serious health care reform unless they continue to make billions of dollars in profits off the sick and dying.
Right now, corporations are allowed to donate to political campaigns. There is zero justification for allowing this. Members of Congress are, supposedly, sent to DC to represent the people of their districts and states, not the corporations headquartered there. When corporations become such important contributors to legislators that the legislators feel they can’t run for re-election without that money, you have a broken system. Corporations do not vote. Representation in Congress is according to population, not corporate assets. It’s the people who cast votes on Election Day, not corporations. Why does what they want even matter?
The first thing that must be changed is the following: Candidates for federally-elected office should only be allowed to accept money from individuals they would be representing in Washington. If you’re runing to represent the 19th Congressional District in New York (my district), you should only be allowed to accept campaign funding from people in the NY 19th CD. You won’t be representing anyone else in Congress, so why should you accept money from anyone else? If you are running for Senator from NY, you should only be accepting money from people who claim NY as their home state for federal income tax purposes. You don’t represent anyone in California, so why accept money from them?
Politicans would whine and stomp their feet and claim they can’t run without the millions of dollars they get from corporations. This is a lie. They can run, they just can’t run the way they want to – by airing TV and radio ads all day. They would have to get out and meet the people they want to represent, and ask them for their money.
It’s simple. Every time a Member of Congress takes money from a corporation and then votes the way that corporation wants him to vote (as opposed to the way the people he represents want him to vote), you have a corrupt Member of Congress. No two ways about it.
We’ve tried letting candidates take money from corporations and trusted them to be honest enough to vote against that corporation’s interests when they conflicted with the American people’s. It hasn’t worked. They can’t be trusted because there is no honor in Washignton. Therefore, the rules must be changed so they can’t accept corporate money or financing. Only then can the American people begin to feel like their government truly belongs to them. Right now it doesn’t.
Apologies for the length of this comment. I will go away now. Thank you for your attention.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:47 am“…they enjoy the coverage WE buy for them.”
had enough, exactly right.
If Senator Grassley thinks that it’s perfectly okay for our tax dollars to pay for his health insurance and his pension, why is it so wrong for our tax dollars to pay for everyone’s health insurance?
July 4th, 2009 at 9:47 amSomebody forgot to tell him that we all already work for the government, they just don’t fu[king pay US.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:19 amThey take our money and use it for whatever they choose, just like it belonged to them in the first place.
The lack of empathy that Grassley has for that man is appalling. It’s a clear indication that he feels having the title “Senator” is more important than soving any problems his constituents may have concerning health care or anything else. He just showed them exactly how he plans to vote on the health care reform bill.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:32 amThat is funny. I thought the government was supposed to work for me.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:33 amThis back and fourth between Senator Grassley and a constituent says it all.
Those in our government feel they deserve better health care then the rest of us. They will oppose a better health care system for us because it will anger their handlers in the health care and pharmaceutical industries.
They keep telling us how scary it would be to have a government ran health care system and yet they are benefiting from a government ran health care system.
Face it folks, our system of government and society was set up for the wealthy, the elite to keep and remain in power. For they are elected to protect the corporate death grip that has long taken hold of our country.
Even with Obama as president, things are still the same. Nothing will ever change until 300 million Americans quit fighting amongst themselves, stand up and unite against our government, just as our ancestors did against the king of England.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:34 amThose who cry SOCIALISM have a point.
If there were no health insurance companies, and all health care providers just plain billed their clients, prices would not be where they are.
Simple operations would not cost $200,000, because then they would simply never be performed. Health care procedures would have to be affordable. And while lots of people could not afford daring or experimental procedures, there would be no pre-existing condition madness, and procedured would just be done or not be done–not done and then ‘disallowed.’
It’s a nice vision if you’re in love with free market capitalism–and you could argue to defend its flaws.
But what we have is not that system.
Whether your reaction to SOCIALISM is “Oh no!” or “So what?”–whether you argue from the left or Right–the current system must be demolished. It violates both the principles of the free market and humanitarian principles.
Your problem, trolls, is that you don’t believe in the free market–you just hate liberals. We want it–you don’t. And you extol Capitalism while defending bloated non-competitive companies with fat government contracts and private regulations that protect them from having to grow, innovate, or change. Because we decry them, and we’re dirty libs.
It’s a fun game, guys, calling us names–but people are dying. You’re running around defending things which violate your core beliefs, because you like having an obvious enemy.
Wake up. The hour is late and the republic is in peril.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:53 amRepublican politicians: Socialized health care is a good thing for us but a bad thing for our constituents.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:00 amGrass-ass forgot “Join the military get your ass blown up and if you live you get care for life from VA”…..Worked for me kind of. VA is pretty good most of the time up here in MN.
I get meds free and go to a private clinic under contract to VA for general checkups and such….
Grass-ass is such a tool.
Remember tell em all to KMAMF…..
July 4th, 2009 at 11:11 amGraassley: what a fcuker
July 4th, 2009 at 11:14 amThat’s as funny as grassley’s statement. Seems to me that just the fact that this conversation about changing health care is happening is evidence that things are definatly not the same…….
July 4th, 2009 at 11:20 amGrassley comes up for re-election in 2010. It will be very easy to recruit a Dem to run against him if Obama gets his health care passed. Grassley’s comments will come back to haunt him and the Republican party. He would be an easy target for a conservaDem to defeat Grassley.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:24 amThere is a great misunderstanding about the Federal government health care program. I just retired after 31 years. The good thing is that a variety of health care plans are available; and, the employee selects the plan that fits his/her needs. In my case, since I was never higher than a GS-8, I could not afford many of the plans. I selected Kaiser Permanente HMO because it was in the price range I could afford. Mr. Grassley most likely has the most expensive plan available and most likely the highest option because he has more money. The Fed employee pays about half of the premium and the government pays the other half. Pay in the government is not comparable to private companies; but, the health care benefit helps bring people who might go elsewhere for more money to the goverment.
I personally am for a single payer, non-profit system where every American has access to health care that is equivalent to any other American. I have no love for the greedy, money-grabbing Insurance companies who care only about making obscene profits from the misery of other people. Cut out that heartless middleman and the required paperwork and health care will improve immensely.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:42 amummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
fred, people have been talking about healthcare reform for many many years. That is why the American public overwhelmingly favors it.
We did not elect obama to talk nor is that what he ran on to get our support.
We demand and expect change – holding those that said “YES WE CAN” accountable for their rhetoric is the only way it will happen.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:00 pmnotice how this clown pointedly did not answer the question which was, “why can’t i have the same insurance at the same rate you have”
July 4th, 2009 at 12:09 pmBernie Sanders spelled it out on MSNBC…to get Health Care Reform , the Democrats and the two Independents, must ALL vote for cloture. They have sixty votes and can end efforts to Block or Water Down health Care reform with the fillibuster.
Then a simple Majority will carry the day for Health Care Reform.
Some Democrats, for whatever reason, could end up voting Against the Bill….but it would be an up or down vote.
But ANY Democratic Senators who DON’T Vote to end a fillibuster MUST be held accountable.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:32 pmThere appears to be no bounds to the republic hypocrisy and greed. One thing to remember though….needless death due to lack of access to healthcare kills some of the 21%’ers too. Perhaps some of the ones left to grieve will eventually come to their senses.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:40 pmDon’t assume that because Congress is not in session that nothing is being done on health care. The top Dems will be discussing the bill in the Senate in consultation with the conservaDems. I don’t give a damn if a few Dems vote against the bill. However, I expect all of them to vote for cloture and 51 votes to pass the plan.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:55 pmShorter Grassley: LET THEM EAT CAKE!
July 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pmI heard from the DCCC and DNC yesterday — I told them both:
July 4th, 2009 at 1:26 pmno money from me because it goes to all Dems and I won’t support blue dogs, and other Dems getting their donations from corporations and who are anti-everything I want Obama to pass.
Ground Chuck’s immense arrogance is only surpassed by his immense ignorance. I’m surprised he’s not advocating faith healing as the answer to our nat’l health crisis.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:35 pmYet another “small” government Republican.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:38 pmThere you have it. The equivalent of let them eat cake. I have put that same question in letters and emails to both my Senators and my congresswoman. I never once got an answer. I have Feinstein for one of my Senators. I usually ignore her. She is a corporatist. She never met a business she didn’t like. And I fully expect her to join some lobbyist firm or try to run for governor in Calif. Boxer and Woolsey are not as bad. But still never an answer.
We we ask for what they have insurance wise, we are called socialist. When they have it, it is called part of the job perks. I guess for doing such a good job. Two faced hypocrites. Grassley is spouting the truth for once. And it was by accident. This is the only way truth ever escapes in the GOP. What an ass.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:48 pmI want this old man, Grassley, to have what I have:
$2500 deductible; $12,000 annual cap; $30 copay each visit; double-digit (percentage) rise every year. Out-of-pocket premium costs of $5000 per year.
None of this paltry $250 annual deductible that he’s got…we taxpayers are subsidizing his health benefits for life.
The unmitigated GALL of this old fart to say what he said. Just who does he think he is?
July 4th, 2009 at 1:48 pmLink
July 4th, 2009 at 1:53 pmi find it interesting the right-wingers who are soooo supportive of the military fail to see the military is the largest communist organization in the country (free healthcare, free housing, everyone of a particular rank all get paid the same, regardless of what they do)…and they have guns.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:11 pmMarwick say: “When Medicare was set up in 1965, the politicians projected its cost in 1990 to be $3 billion — which is equivalent to $12 billion when adjusted for inflation to 1990 dollars. The actual cost in 1990 was $98 billion — eight times as much.”
Could the reason for this be the uninhibited capitalistic (read monopoly) system that permitted the health care community in our country to increase prices two and three times faster than the rest of the industrialized world, which provided much better services at a fraction of the cost? I just wonder.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:48 pmSo let’s think about Grassley’s suggestion – what form of govt would be have if everyone who was not able to afford private healthcare was to become a govt employee?
You’d have to expand the role of govt significantly to create enough jobs to accomplish this, and raise taxes quite a bit to pay for it all.
He’s conservative… right?!?! Idiot.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:38 pmPaying taxes is working for the government (us.)
July 4th, 2009 at 3:41 pmYou know, between this and all his twitters, I think Sen. Grassley might be in trouble in 2010.
At least, if I’m Bruce Braley or Dave Loebsack, that’s what I’m thinking.
(Though the DSCC might try to convince me Leonard Boswell is a better fit for Iowa in the Senate. To which I’d say, “have you guys met Tom Harkin?”)
July 4th, 2009 at 4:05 pmskorpeo Says:
i find it interesting the right-wingers who are soooo supportive of the military fail to see the military is the largest communist organization in the country (free healthcare, free housing, everyone of a particular rank all get paid the same, regardless of what they do)…and they have guns.
Oh yeah, chimpy did manage to screw up the military too.
July 4th, 2009 at 4:26 pmThis is one out of touch, hateful, unsypathetic bastard. Two more general elections and we should be able to rid this country of all these old conservative troglodytes. Hell he is eighty years old.
July 4th, 2009 at 5:10 pmI think we the people should be calling for his resignation over this one.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:09 pmSo Grassley just admitted that the public option is a better system…..
Somehow Rush, Hannity, etc. will find someone or something to blame. If all else fails they can rely on the liberal media. That one always seem to work for non-educated folk.
If we don’t get a public healthcare plan, I say we demand that senators and federal employees get placed into the private healthcare plans. Then watch how quickly a public plan will come about.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:10 pmI have a request for Sen. Grassley, follow Sarah Palin’s example, and please stop working for the government.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:11 pmSo?
July 4th, 2009 at 6:14 pmA public option isn’t necessarily a good one. I work full-time for a state government (that shall remain nameless). My health care costs me $533/month, which is 60% of the overall premium (the state kicks in $377/month). I spend $30 to see a doctor and $60 to see a specialist. My deductible is $1,800 a year before the plan even starts to pay 20% coinsurance. In other words, before my health insurance starts to work (beyond routine office visits), I have to shell out nearly $8,200 (and the state kicks in over $4,500, meaning that the total insurance payout before coinsurance kicks in is $14,500). Yet the state claims that it is STILL losing money on the deal. Oh, and I have the “gold-plated” plan (i.e., the option that has the lowest deductibles). For the “basic” plan, it would cost me over $450/month with a deductible of $2,400 and coinsurance of 30%. If you smoke or are obese, you are REQUIRED to be in that basic plan (and the copayment for a specialist in that case would be $70). The insurance is so worthless that one doctor told me to not even provide my insurance card because he charges LESS than my copay if I just pay cash!
Indeed, I would actually be better off buying my insurance on my own if the state would give me their share of the health insurance payment [the $377/month that the state, as my employer, subsidizes] to go out and buy my own policy but NO, you can’t do that!
July 4th, 2009 at 7:40 pmsmart commentary here – also, good canada links in comments:
On health care politics, why not demand the best?
By John Buell
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/109073.html
July 4th, 2009 at 8:02 pmWhat part of Iowa is the senator from?
July 4th, 2009 at 10:34 pmIn Hills, Iowa, they were instructed to stop drinking the water because it contained perchlorate. Might that explain the sentor’s problem?
I’ve been saying that on every blog I can. If Grassley (and others of his opinion) hate government run health care so much, they should opt out of the plan that covers them, because it’s run by the government!
Grassely think “socialism” is fine for him, the rest of us can go to hell.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:25 amGrassley is just one of this crowd of fear mongering truth twisting so called conservatives. He is not far behind the Newtster when he says “So what if there are 50M uninsured, don’t we have 250M insured”.
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July 5th, 2009 at 11:10 amThe Grassley 100% Solution. Either Grassley thinks a public servant is entitled to be better off than his bosses/constituents, or he wants everybody in Iowa to get guv’ment jobs. That’s the only logical conclusion one can draw from his remark. Whodathunk Chuck Grassley would be the first pure socialist in America?
The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com
July 5th, 2009 at 12:51 pmskorpeo Says:
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i find it interesting the right-wingers who are soooo supportive of the military fail to see the military is the largest communist organization in the country (free healthcare, free housing, everyone of a particular rank all get paid the same, regardless of what they do)…and they have guns.
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July 5th, 2009 at 3:37 pmCommunism? Military service is voluntary. Communism is forced collectivism.
skorpeo Says:
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i find it interesting the right-wingers who are soooo supportive of the military fail to see the military is the largest communist organization in the country (free healthcare, free housing, everyone of a particular rank all get paid the same, regardless of what they do)…and they have guns.
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FREE Healthcare? FREE Housing? Do you suppose they actually EARN these things? The wages are low relative to the private sector, what they don’t get in actual pay is made up for in other ways, including educational benefits.
They get nothing **free**, what a foolish belief. What progressives want is FREE, but for those who pay little in taxes, those who dropped out of school, those that didn’t learn a marketable skill. The rest of us you expect to pay your way.
Might do you some good to join the service, get out of your Mom’s basement and stop whining about others that decided to make something out of themselves.
Most that have been in service have learned self responsibility, sacrifice, and how not to be dependent on others. Hard concept to understand Comrade?
July 5th, 2009 at 7:08 pmI work for the goverment.Yes,they are hiring.Yes,I have great health insurance.I also have a great union.That fights tooth and nail to get us benefits that we have & are not unusual requests.Like a strick 2-15min breaks,30 min lunch no taking off for personal reasons,filing & paying your taxes on time.Putting up with alot of the most ignorant people in the world American taxpayers.The pay is decent.I’ll never be able to afford a fancy home,but I will be able to feed and clothes my family.IF people quit asking the goverment for everything there would be no need for taxes.So be happy they even offer you anything.Part of being American, always remember if you don’t like this country you are free to leave.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:34 pmThis is a good example of how out of touch the Senate is. Sen. Grassley doesn’t even know that the Federal employee insurance plan is not the same as his. Feds pay or skip treatment due to expanded deductibles, $250 copays for meds, “reasonable and customary” excluding coverage, and out of network costs. My medical expenses are 20% of my gross income plus the $320 monthy premium. Don’t get a Fed job if you want health care. Run for Congress.
July 5th, 2009 at 8:18 pmMany of our elected officials (Grassley and Baucus included), have received large donations from the health care corporations doing business in this country. That is why when it comes time to discuss health care reform, no single payer supporters (including numerous doctors and nurses) are invited to have a seat at the reform table. Those seats are for sale and single payer just doesn’t have the money that health care corps. do. We should replace the white light bulbs around Capitol Hill with red ones. We know what we have doing business on the hill, might as well advertise it.
We will never have elected officials understand the challenges facing working Americans when they line their pockets richly by not doing so.
July 5th, 2009 at 8:28 pmMy other comment is still in moderation.
Ajweishar has it right.
Not only should one run for Congress if you want the best tax-payer funded, government-controlled healthcare, but if you want a job in which you can be off for months on end due to illness or injury and still receive full pay and benefits, instead of being terminated and forced to try to pay Cobra premiums, also run for Congress.
No wonder these jerks have no clue what the real world is about, nor do they care. We pamper these guys way to much.
July 6th, 2009 at 7:52 amWhat a bona-fide PRICK…”We” pay for his (Grassley’s) Health Care insurance…and he takes “extras” from the private Health Care Companies to make sure we taxpayers can’t get his “special privileged” health care…what this country needs is a good old fashioned revolution…(while people were sleeping, Congress and former Administrations let Wall Street get to “big to fail” de-regulating, subsidizing)..and now they can’t reverse it, Wall Street owns “our” Government and our Congress)….meanwhile the Supreme Court is set to insure even more corporate rule, by rolling back all corporate regulations to before 1907..you can bet there won’t be any rolling back of the Reagan (etc.) tax breaks for the rich (corporate Exec’s) the “average working taxpayers” will still be making up that shortfall (and more)
July 6th, 2009 at 2:33 pmWork for which government??? The one THE REPUBLICANS ARE ALWAYS TRYING TO DESTROY???? MAKE SMALLER??? LORD!
Our government is WHERE WE CONDUCT THE PEOPLE’S BUSINESS: CIVIL, POLITICAL AND PERSONAL. WITH OVER 300 MILLION PEOPLE IN THIS NATION (who pay taxes by the way), WE NEED LARGER GOVERNMENT, NOT SMALLER. Don’t believe me? Try to get a court date for a divorce, or a civil case, or a public defender!
SMALLER GOVERNMENT MEANS “A CORPORATE FREE-FOR-ALL” WITH NO CONSEQUENCES FOR THEIR ACTIONS!
“TAXES ARE THE SWEAT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE”…AND WE WANT TO SPEND OUR TAXES ON HEALTH CARE…FOR ALL…EVEN GRASSLEY and BAUCHUS.
Do these guys and gals ever listen to themselves? Or do they only parrot the talking points that the guy at the door to the House and Senate hands out to them on any given day???
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July 6th, 2009 at 7:19 pmSen Chuck Grassley, are there openings that you know of for federal jobs? It would have to be something that takes me where I am at; not if I had a degree that takes 4 years to obtain; not if I had this expertise.
Is it really possible for every now-uninsured or now-underinsured to become a federal employee? So many have lost their jobs in the weight of the recession and many remain unemployed, others become employed for minimum wage or not much over. Federal Government is a favored place of mine to find new work.
I see your response as quite jerkish, “get a job with the federal government.” Like everybody can; like all layed off factory workers can. I like Pink’s song, “Dear Mr. President.” Do you know anything about hard work?
This is suppose to be a government for the people, by the people, not a kind of government where extremely rich can bribe (lobby) the politicians. Our Lord was so angry when he found merchants making God’s temple into a den of thieves and drove them out with whips.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:28 pma federally (government) run health care plan would be bad for average citizens… a “government bureaucrat between you and your doctor”, (except when it isn’t bad) like when you are a Senator or work for the government, then its good to have a government bureaucrat between you and your doctor..is that what you were trying to say, Senator Grassley…?
July 8th, 2009 at 3:19 am