An Open Letter to Senator Charles Grassley (2010)

 Originally published as a Facebook Note March 28, 2010.

Dear Senator:

I've received two e-mails from you this week, touting your latest initiative, which is to require that members of Congress switch from their current health insurance to the new health care program. I'm disappointed by your effort, not because I believe members of Congress deserve special treatment, but because given the structure of the bill Congress passed this week it makes no sense.

As an employee of Coe College, I am covered by the institution's health care package, which is provided by Wellmark. The package of benefits is similar to that which you members of Congress enjoy. As such the health care bill will have little effect on either of us, except that should our employment status change we are assured of retaining coverage. This is true of anyone now receiving coverage.

But I suspect you know this already. After all, who more than you knows what your health insurance coverage is? So your initiative isn't really about fairness, it's about pushing the buttons of people who do not know how the new program will work. This is not a particularly honorable approach.

The problems addressed by the health care reform are real: widespread lack of insurance and underinsurance making access to health care uncertain, and rampaging inflation which has doubled the proportion of GDP devoted to health care in the last 30 years. The reform measure is flawed (as what human effort is not?). It is not the approach I would have taken: I would have preferred the government attack rising costs first, and use the savings to expand access to insurance. But the bill as passed has the chance to do some good for people who need help, moreso than the status quo was doing.

You had the opportunity to make this bill better, by participating in the process. I was pleased last year that President Obama was regularly consulting you, and I proudly told people (particularly those from other states) that we weren't going to get "Obamacare," we were going to get Grassleycare. Then, at the end of last summer, as the right wing fomented scurrilous rumors of death panels and shouted down speakers at town hall meetings, you chose to pull out of health care talks. This may shore up your bona fides with some short-sighted voters, but to the extent that the bill could have benefited from a broader conversation your contributions were missed.

If you were Senator Imhofe, or some comparable "know-nothing" on the left whose career is basically built on throwing rhetorical bombs, I could understand this pattern. But I think you're better than you've been on this issue. I hope you will undertake more constructive initiatives, aimed at solving real problems of Americans, in the near future.