Working for good government, fair treatment

To the fly-bys who refer to our home state as flyover country, I'm glad to stand shoulder to shoulder with constituents in Iowa. As it is, the joke's on those who buy into the idea that rural America isn't worth their time of day.

I'm honored to represent the people of Iowa in the United States Senate. As a family farmer and former factory worker, I know that Iowans work hard for their money. It's our way of life to live by the rules and don't spend beyond our means. That's why I work as Iowa's watchdog in Washington to make government work for you, not the other way around.

In public service, I've championed issues that matter to rural America, from agriculture to renewable energy to health care. As one example, I'm working to find solutions that keep acute health care services open for business and won't add a dime to the deficit.

The same goes for federal flood protection dollars. Taxpayers in Cedar Rapids pay their fair share into the Federal Treasury and deserve a fair shake when it comes to flood protection from the federal government. I'm working with Senator Joni Ernst to root out a biased funding formula that prioritizes coastal and major metropolitan areas and unfairly creates a rural-urban divide when it comes to public safety.

Again, people who live and work in rural America pay the same payroll taxes as citizens on the coasts. Those taxes help pay for federal programs across the country. In health care, from federal medical research to Obamacare subsidies, tax-advantaged health savings accounts and the tax benefit employers receive to offer workplace-based health insurance.

Rural Americans deserve the same quality of care as urban Americans. As it stands, patients from around the world envy the medical treatments, cures and outcomes available in the United States, like those found right here in Cedar Rapids and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Through my 99 county meetings and letters and emails from Iowans, I'm hearing more and more concerns that Obamacare is causing sticker shock and that it has messed up our health insurance system, leaving a trail of broken promises every step of the way. Even former President Bill Clinton called it 'the craziest system in the world.”

What makes matters worse, our public health insurance programs already are strained as it is to serve our veterans, elderly and individuals with disabilities. We don't have a dollar to waste considering that these health care programs already account for roughly one-quarter of the federal budget.

What can too easily get lost in the shuffle are the concerns and problems unique to people living in our smallest rural communities, many of whom feel left behind.

Not if I can help it. I know that access to acute health care services is a matter of life or death for every American. Emergency medical care can mean the difference between saving a limb or requiring an amputation. Iowa farmers shoulder plenty of occupational hazards, especially during harvest season. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that although only 15 percent of the population lives in rural areas, 60 percent of trauma deaths occur here.

' More information: www.grassleyworks.org