Grassley: Health-care deal is possible

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R., Iowa) said yesterday that a "public option" seems to be the most controversial issue as Congress seeks this spring to write a health-reform bill.

"It's a deal-breaker for Republicans if it's in, and for Democrats if it's not in," Grassley, ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, told reporters at the Kaiser Family Foundation yesterday.

"I don't see a compromise in that area," he said. "But abortion is the only issue I know of that is not compromisable."

President Obama and Democrats want a public option - insurance that can be purchased from the government - for 46 million Americans who lack private insurance.

Republicans say such an option will weaken and eventually eliminate private insurance. And America will be left with single-payer, government-run insurance, they say.

Grassley said one solution agreeable to Republicans might be for Congress to set minimum standards for every insurance plan, and then throw competition open nationally. Grassley emphasized the key would be for Congress to clearly establish quality minimum coverages.

He said he was still hopeful that he and Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.), the Finance Commitee chairman, could introduce a bill by summer.

He also said he wanted to move away from paying doctors based on quantity, and pay them for quality.

He said specialists on average earned four times what a member of Congress does, and family practitioners on average earn less than a member of Congress. This has led to a shortage of family-practice doctors and overuse of specialists.