CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Not every issue U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley encountered during a week of town hall meetings was as complicated as health-care reform or righting the economy.

When an employee at Coca-Cola's sales and distribution center in southwest Cedar Rapids asked whether Grassley supported a soft drink tax to finance health-care reform there was no nuance in his answer.

"I'm against it," he said, calling it "ridiculous" and a "nuisance tax."

The so-called soda tax was proposed in May, but Grassley hasn't heard much about it since then.

"I wouldn't get too worked up about it," he advised the soft drink company employees.

Health care is nowhere near as simple, he warned, telling the Coke work force they might have to "stay awake at night worrying about it."

That's not because he doesn't think there is congressional support for reform, but because he's uncertain about what the final plan will look like. Neither are the people who attended his meetings this week, Grassley said. He thought that and a "nervousness" about the economy were key reasons for the large crowds his meetings attracted.

Many people expressed concern about the "legacy of debt" they see developing as the federal government looks at health-care reform estimated to cost $1.6 trillion over 10 years and bails out banks and auto manufacturers.

"They think it's idiotic to think you can triple the budget and have a viable economy," Grassley said after meeting with employees and customers at First Federal Credit Union in Cedar Rapids.

Grassley wasn't surprised that health-care questions dominated his meetings because it affects so many people and is such a large part of the economy - about one-sixth of the nation's $14 trillion economy. All the questions and advice he heard didn't give Grassley a mandate on what direction to take as ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, which is likely to complete its mark-up of a health-care bill as soon as next week.

The situation is very fluid, he said, and every time a change is made on one part of the plan it affects other parts of health care.

"The pieces aren't complicated, but when you put them all together, it's very complicated," he said.

One sticking point has been whether a health-care plan should include a public option - a government-run alternative to private insurance.

"Some people want a public option, some don't and some want some sort of a hybrid," he said. Grassley has opposed a public option and said it could be a deal-killer for him.

A public option is one of the keys to health-care reform Change That Works is advocating. About 25 members of the labor-based group recently waited for Grassley outside the entrance to the Coralville Public Library. Grassley, however, avoided walking through the group, choosing to use a staff entrance. Members of the group did attend the meeting with the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce and spoke with Grassley.

"We wanted to tell him we know he has a lot of work ahead of him to reform our broken health-care system," Andrew Mertens of Change That Works said. In addition to the public option, Change That Works calls affordability and employer responsibility key principles of health-care reform.

One issue he didn't hear much about was Iraq and Afghanistan. Grassley attributed that to politics. When George W. Bush was president many people came to his meetings to complain about Iraq war policy, "but now that you have a Democratic president doing the same thing, they don't show up," he said.