FACT CHECK: Health Care

Grassley works to lower health care costs, improve access and champions rural health care.

  • Access to affordable health care frequently comes up at many of Senator Grassley’s county meetings. As a former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee which has legislative and oversight jurisdiction of federal health programs, he uses his leadership to champion rural health care by maintaining access to rural hospitals, clinics, and other services in the community. 
  • Grassley has spent years working to lower prescription drug prices, creating more competition, and ensuring Iowans of all ages have access to safe and affordable medication. Most recently, 
    • The CREATES Act with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) became law (2019).
    • The Right Rebate Act with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) became law (2019).
    • The Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act became law (2018).
  • Grassley has worked to:
    • Lower prescription drug prices and hold Big Pharma, including middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), accountable (comprehensive and bipartisan Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, oversight over insulin manufacturers, and accountability and transparency work to take on the PBMs)
    • Protect individuals with pre-existing conditions (PROTECT Act).
    • Stop unconstitutional Biden mask and vaccine mandates. 
    • Expand health care price transparency (require prescription drug prices in ads, hospital and health insurance prices). 
    • Protect and expand affordable health care options (association health plans, health savings accounts, protected transitional health plans for 50,000 Iowans, telehealth).
    • Protect rural health care (new Rural Emergency Hospital program, Rural Hospital Support Act, stopped rural health clinics from losing payments).
    • Combat the opioid and meth epidemics (Chair of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control).
    • Expand our health care workforce by increasing access under Medicare to more qualified health professionals such as pharmacists and audiologists, adding 1,000 graduate medical education residency slots, and increasing funding for loan repayment and scholarships for health science professionals entering the workforce. 
    • Secure the permanent expansion for Medicare-covered telehealth coverage for mental health services and is working to extend telehealth flexibilities for other services and Iowa’s critical access hospitals. 
    • Improve maternal and child health care through support of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, Maternal and Child Health Stillborn Prevention Act, and other efforts to support vulnerable moms, children, and their families. 
    • Held the Food & Drug Administration accountable to implement the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act into law so that 30+ million Americans with hearing loss can access safe, affordable, and effective hearing aids over-the-counter. 
    • Support kids with complex medical conditions and their families to ensure they have the resources, support services, and coordinated care they deserve. 
    • Work to expand mental and behavioral health services and resources, especially for farmers, our youth, and Iowans living in rural areas. 

Mike Franken wants to abolish private health care in favor of socialized, big-government-ran health care. 

  • It’s time to put the patient back at the center of health care. Instead, Mike Franken wants to wave a magic wand and put every American on TRICARE, which is the health insurance benefit for those who serve our country in uniform. He says it ought to be a cradle-to-grave entitlement. The health care Mike Franken would have received during his years of service assigns the patient a doctor. Kiss patient choice and second opinions good-bye. 
    • What would happen to private health care providers and insurers in America? Mike Franken wants to take away your personal freedoms and shift costs to the taxpayer. 
    • Make sure to review the briefing document by Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner explaining how Mike Franken’s radical healthcare proposal will hurt Iowans and Americans. 
  • Franken has previously expressed support for creating a so-called public option.
    • If Franken had his way, one analysis found 52 of Iowa’s rural hospitals would be at risk of closing – eliminating health care access for thousands of rural Iowans.
    • The proposal would place a $476 million burden on rural hospitals, posing a catastrophic financial challenge that would likely result in bankruptcy.
    • Mike Franken’s dangerous health care agenda would destroy rural hospitals and leave rural Iowans without accessible health care close to home, particularly for primary care and emergency services. 

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