Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has played a key roll in slowing down the pace and watering down the content of health care reform. If insurance companies succeed in killing proposals for a Medicare-like public option for the uninsured, they will largely owe their success to Grassley who used his role as the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee to slow down deliberations on health care reform and weaken Democratic support for the policy.

• “Grassley, the ranking Republican on the committee, told Baucus that he wants talks to continue until the bill is complete, no matter how long that process takes, according to a senior Senate aide familiar with their conversations. Grassley had supported Baucus's early efforts to establish a schedule for committee action, but as the legislation began to take form last month, he opposed a strict timetable.” [The Washington Post, July 31, 2009]
• “Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the finance committee and the lawmaker considered most important to a deal, has seemed to turn more partisan and sour on Democratic proposals while speaking to constituents in his state …” [The Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2009]

He succeeded in getting the panel to approve a version of the bill lacking any public option.

• “The committee's plan, initially drafted by Baucus, is the only one under serious consideration that excludes a government-run public health insurance option. Several top Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have questioned whether it is possible to contain costs without creating a public option to serve as a check on private insurers… The Finance Committee plan was partly the result of months of negotiations between Baucus and five other panel members (including Grassley)” [CNN, October 13, 2009]
• Why this position when the Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll found that 56 percent of Iowans support a public option? [Des Moines Register, August 31, 2009]

It’s not surprising. For Grassley, insurance is a family business – two of his children are on the payroll of the industry.

• Daughter Michele Grassley Clarke is the Executive Director for the Iowa chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.
• Grassley daughter Wendy Grassley Speckerman is also listed on the staff of the association. [National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors]
• This group is opposed to any public health plan option as part of a national health care reform package. [Press Release, Association of Health Insurance Providers, April 20, 2009]

Grassley’s campaigns have benefited from industry largesse.

• He has received $493,149 in campaign contributions from health insurance companies over his career. [Center for Responsive Politics]
• His number 1 career contributor is Blue Cross/Blue Shield at $81,200. [Center for Responsive Politics]

Meanwhile, Grassley has surrounded himself with advisors on healthcare with deep conflicts involving health insurers, guaranteeing that they will give the Senator advice that benefits industry over consumers.

• Former health care adviser Kristen Bass left Grassley’s staff early in 2009 to become Senior Vice President for Public Policy at the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, according to her biography. [Pharmaceutical Care Management Association]
• Bass joined Grassley’s staff in 2007, leaving a lobbying position with the Healthcare Leadership Council. She also has worked for Wellpoint and American Association of Health Plans (now AHIP). In 2007, her first year on Grassley’s staff, she received $426,000 in deferred compensation from WellPoint. [Legistorm]
• Monica Tencate, Grassley’s previous Finance Committee Policy Director left the Committee in 2002, founding The Health Policy Source, according to her official biography. [The Health Policy Source] Her clients include Centene Corp, one of the country’s largest health insurers. [Center for Responsive Politics]