Rising health insurance costs have many Americans concerned about whether or not they can afford the coverage they need, and it’s something the U.S. Congress has been spending a great deal of time on recently.

Senator Charles Grassley (R) recently visited manufacturing workers at Iowa Spring in Adel, and healthcare was a topic they spent a great deal of time on during a question and answer session. Grassley says the Senate is still working on ways to properly repeal the Affordable Care Act, though at this point it seems unlikely they will have a concrete plan to phase it out before the 2020 general election. Meanwhile, the price for health insurance has exploded, though Grassley believes that’s a symptom of a larger problem.

“If you’re going to get down the cost of health insurance premiums, you’re going to have to get down the cost of healthcare. So we think you need to make the consumer more informed. We’ve got too much secrecy in the pricing, drugs is what we’re working on now. But beyond drugs we’ve got to get more transparency in the pricing of hospitals (and) doctors, just to know what the price is. Because with transparency you get accountability, and more transparency I think you get the marketplace working. And with the marketplace working, I think you’ll drive down healthcare costs.”

Many Democratic Senators, including some high-profile Presidential candidates, have touted an all-inclusive healthcare coverage platform, commonly referred to as “Medicare for All.” However, Grassley dismisses that platform, as he claims it would put too much strain on the budgets of average American workers. To hear more from Grassley, listen to today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program on air and at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.