Grassley expresses some pessimism on health care reform

CEDAR RAPIDS - Common sense tells him something must be done, but U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is not as optimistic as he was a couple of weeks ago that Congress will approve health care reforms.

'Compared to how optimistic I was the week before now ... I'm very pessimistic,” Grassley said in Mount Pleasant Thursday.

He said it's obvious to him that the Affordable Care Act - Obamacare - isn't working the way it was proposed to Congress and the American public. Rather than seeing health insurance costs drop by $2,500 a year, Grassley said many people have seen increases of $3,000 or more and many have had to change doctors or lost the insurance coverage they had.

Despite the difficulties majority Republicans have had marshaling the votes to replace Obamacare, Grassley said he doesn't 'have a right to be pessimistic because we all know something's got to be done.”

Rather than 'repeal and replace,” he told reporters after speaking to the Mount Pleasant Rotary Club, Grassley said Congress may opt for 'repeal, then replace.”

That would 'put pressure on Congress to do something instead of dancing around like we're doing now,” the Iowa Republican said. 'You'd still have Obamacare as it is for another year or two” while Congress figures out what should replace it.

Questions from the Rotarians ranged from health care to regulations, energy, Social Security, North Korea and President Donald Trump's upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Whatever the United States does in response to North Korea aggression, 'it has got to be almost non-military, but we can't rule out military force,” Grassley said. His concern with a military response is that it likely would give North Korean leader Kim Jong Un time to destroy Seoul, South Korea.

Grassley would prefer economic sanctions, including sanctions on Chinese banks that do business with North Korea.

'I think the president is disappointed that China hasn't done more,” but he warned against relying too heavily on China to intervene with its neighbor.

He doesn't have high expectations for the Trump-Putin meeting.

'But I hope (Trump) says we're sick and tired of (Putin) meddling in our elections,” Grassley said. He also wishes Trump would quit saying there is some question about Russian attempts to interfere in the November 2016 election.

'We have CIA reports ... that without a doubt says they were trying to interfere,” he said. Grassley believes the goal was not to elect one person or another, but to sow doubts about the process and democracy itself.

Earlier Thursday, Grassley met with about 20 business owners and managers in Columbus Junction. They quizzed him about health care, immigration and a range of other issues.

Grassley continues his 99-county tour Friday when he meets with businesses and associations in southeast Iowa.

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