This story about Chuck Grassley's response to a constituent's pointed question comes by way of the Huffington Post:
After sharing his family's personal struggle with the burden of high health care costs, an audience member asked, "My question is... why is your insurance so much cheaper than my insurance and so better than my insurance?"
The question made Grassley cranky.
He responded, first, by suggesting the questioner "go work for John Deere," since they "don't pay anything" for their insurance plan.
When the questioner refused to let the senator wriggle out of answering the question, Grassley revealed how little he knew about his own insurance plan.
Another audience member had to help the senator out by describing the details of the plan. After she finished, the original questioner again asked, "Okay, so how come I can't have the same thing you have?"
Grassley's response: "You can. Just go work for the Federal government."
That solution might work for just how many Americans Mr. Grassley?
Lets do the math.
As of last November there were 32,816 federal employees in Iowa.
As of last July the population of Iowa was estimated at 3,002,555
So that means that 1.0% of Iowans work for the Federal Government
These are desperate evasions from some of our Senators who intend to act as the insurance industry and Big Pharma's gofers, and produce a BandAid parody of serious reform. They think we Americans can be easily fooled. This includes one of my own Senators, Maria Cantwell much to my dismay. Their thinking is still stuck in the Bush epoch, and it won't pass muster with the increasing number of people who find the present system unworkable or very nearly so. We need to let them know the error of their thinking at every opportunity.
Iowa is the poster child for the Public Option. In Iowa one insurer controls 71% of the market for health insurance.
Lets see if this comes up when Grassley appears on Face the Nation tomorrow morning.
UPDATE: Instead Grassley was asked about Sarah Palin.
Perhaps we should send Senator Let Them Eat Cake a piece of cake.
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1501
