IowaPolitics.com BlogWatch

We're almost there!! With your support, Iowa will pass monumental
health care reform this legislative session that will cover all of
Iowa's uninsured children and expand coverage to adults. Monday, the
Iowa Senate passed a health care bill that provides the needed
resources to cover Iowa's 45,000 uninsured children. The bill would
also improve our state's overall health care by offering more options
for adults to purchase coverage, encouraging the use of electronic
medical records, focusing on chronic disease prevention, and allowing
young adults to stay on their family's health insurance plans until
they are 25.

Labels: health_care

It was only last fall that Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on
the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, took an unpopular party stance
against Pres. George W. Bush's domestic health care policy. Grassley
took some hits on the Hill as a result of his stand, but one Iowa
group wants him to know they appreciate his effort. Iowa for Health
Care met Grassley during a stop in Linn County on Tuesday to thank him
for his "leadership on positive health care reform" and to ask him to
continue to fight for the issue. Grassley not only voted in 2007 to
expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover
nearly 4 million more uninsured children throughout the nation -- a
figure that included thousands in Iowa -- but took a notably activist
stance, circumventing House Republican leadership, to recruit
rank-and-file Republicans to rally against the wishes of the White
House.

Labels: Charles_Grassley, health_care

Gov. Culver appeared before the General Assembly for the annual State
of the State and promptly abandoned any pretense of reality in pursuit
Orwellian socialism. Iowa is facing a horrible budget crisis. The
Democrat leadership (Vilsack, the Big Lug and the Lug Nuts) will have
increased spending between 7/1/06 and 7/1/08 by more than a billion
dollars, while revenues are hardly keeping pace. Even the Democrats
admit that the state will experience a shortfall of over $105 million.
The non partisan Legislative Service Agency predicts a shortfall of
over $344 million.

Labels: Chet_Culver, health_care

I'll be honest, I haven't had a chance to read the whole thing yet.
But you can see the highlights here… Skimming the plan, it appears
that Biden would not make health insurance mandatory, so this is not
quite a universal health care plan (as Edwards and Clinton have
proposed). Under Biden's plan, all children would be covered, and
steps would be taken to improve adults' access to health insurance,
including a Federal Employee Health Benefit Buy-In and a Medicare
Buy-In for adults age 55 to 64. This seems most similar to Obama's
health care proposal, which also would put us on the road toward
covering all children and more adults.

Labels: health_care, Joe_Biden

Joe Biden: "I am deeply disappointed first that the President chose to
veto this crucial legislation and second, that the House failed to
override his veto. Every single child in this country should have
health insurance. Instead of making progress toward this goal, the
President and Republicans in the House are turning their backs on 9
million children. Despite this blow, I am committed to continue
working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle until our kids
have the health coverage they need and deserve." Hillary Clinton: "It
is deeply disappointing that a small minority of Republicans in
Congress have put loyalty to this president ahead of healthcare for
millions of children. But we will not give up until a bill becomes
law. I will keep fighting to enact a bipartisan bill that provides
affordable coverage to America's children."

Labels: health_care

Dear George, I trust that I can call you George, since we've been
through so much together, right from the start. I was there at Jim
Nussle's barbeque in Amana where you first declared your candidacy for
president. (You probably remember me. We shook hands.) I gave you the
benefit of the doubt when you went to war to topple Saddam Hussein.
(At which you did succeed, lest we forget.) I voted for you
enthusiastically in 2000, then reluctantly, holding my nose, in 2004.
But still, I voted for you twice George. Since we've been buds for so
long, I feel I need to tell you something that might be awkward coming
from someone else: the fact that your recent veto of the bill
expanding the SCHIP "children's" healthcare program makes you look
like a complete hypocrite.

Labels: health_care

A battle over the President's policy view of using tax deductions to
afford private health coverage rather than helping uninsured kids to
Medicare coverage may lead to a desertion by Iowa's Chuck Grassley.
The Washington Post reports that our most senior Senator accused
President Bush yesterday of holding up a bipartisan three months,
along with campaign advertisements accusing Republicans of abandoning
children. That way, pressure would mount either on Bush to sign the
bill or on House Republicans to override the veto... Asked if Bush was
holding the children's health bill hostage, Grassley said, "Yes."

Labels: Charles_Grassley, health_care

Things move fast in Iowa. Within minutes of New York Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton's unveiling of a mandatory health insurance plan in Des
Moines critiques were rolling in from rivals on both sides of the
political fence. "While she talks about the political scars she bears,
the personal scars borne by the American people are far greater," said
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who is also seeking the Democratic
presidential nomination. "The mismanagement of the effort in 1993 and
1994 has set back our ability to move toward universal health care
immeasurable. We've known what the problems have been for nearly 15
years, and what the solutions could be. What's been missing is
leadership that knows how to bring people together and get the job
done." Dodd went on to add that affordable health care will take more
than leadership "that simply knows how to fight -- it will take
leadership that knows how to bring people together and win."

Labels: health_care, Hillary_Clinton