Remember earlier this year how the GOP was absolutely sure that President Obama's budget would lead America to utter ruin? Remember the GOP's alternative budget proposal that would supposedly prevent everlasting economic doom? It had no numbers! Imagine that — a budget proposal with no numbers!
Well, the Republicans certainly have learned their lesson, haven't they? This time, in order to give America an alternative to the socialist/nazi/communist/maoist Obamacare health reform proposal, they included numbers! Good for them!
And here's a quick summary of the 'key elements' of the GOP plan:
• Lowering health care premiums. The GOP plan will lower health care premiums for American families and small businesses, addressing Americans’ number-one priority for health care reform.
• Establishing Universal Access Programs to guarantee access to affordable health care for those with pre-existing conditions. The GOP plan creates Universal Access Programs that expand and reform high-risk pools and reinsurance programs to guarantee that all Americans, regardless of pre-existing conditions or past illnesses, have access to affordable care – while lowering costs for all Americans.
• Ending junk lawsuits. The GOP plan would help end costly junk lawsuits and curb defensive medicine by enacting medical liability reforms modeled after the successful state laws of California and Texas.
• Preventing insurers from unjustly cancelling a policy. The GOP plan prohibits an insurer from cancelling a policy unless a person commits fraud or conceals material facts about a health condition.
• Encouraging Small Business Health Plans. The GOP plan gives small businesses the power to pool together and offer health care at lower prices, just as corporations and labor unions do.
• Encouraging innovative state programs. The GOP plan rewards innovation by providing incentive payments to states that reduce premiums and the number of uninsured.
• Allowing Americans to buy insurance across state lines. The GOP plan allows Americans to shop for coverage from coast to coast by allowing Americans living in one state to purchase insurance in another.
• Promoting healthier lifestyles. The GOP plan promotes prevention & wellness by giving employers greater flexibility to financially reward employees who adopt healthier lifestyles.
• Enhancing Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). The GOP plan creates new incentives to save for current and future health care needs by allowing qualified participants to use HSA funds to pay premiums for high deductible health insurance.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
Glenn, here's a number for you from the current Pelosi-backed plan. The number is FIVE. That's the number of years which people who don't pay for state mandated insurance could be sentenced to in jail.
Yep, they brought back the mandate and even increased the penalty which was only 2 years in jail in the original house bill to a fill 5 years in the new bill.
I have to say that as you described it the Republican plan sounded pretty good. No mandates, no kicking people off their insurance plans, no one thrown in jail. Find a way to bring more of the uninsured on board and it's a winner.
Dave
2 - Richard
If everyone has access to affordable health insurance, but some people still choose not to purchase it, what exactly is the problem?
Why is the goal to have people insured? Why isn't the goal to make sure people can get the health care they desire?
3 - Christine
Glenn: what about those who will lose their current plan under the Dem's bill (estimated at 90 million) and are forced into the government-run program? Even though current insurance plans are “grandfathered” into the new system they only do so for five years. (Consult Section 202(b)(1) of the House bill, page 91.)" What happens then?
More mandates coming from Washington based on their criteria of what is acceptable coverage? . So much for keeping the health insurance you want. And where does it end? Seems more like government control and ideology than actual concern for the health of Americans.
4 - Glenn Contrarian
Dave and Richard -
I didn't like the idea of being forced to buy the insurance either...but then an insurance exec (in a debate against Thom Hartmann, IIRC) pointed out that if such coverage is not mandated, but no one can be denied due to 'pre-existing conditions', then those with such 'pre-existing conditions' (like my oldest son) will simply wait until they have to go to the hospital and only then sign up for insurance.
In other words, this would allow people - everyone in America, in fact - to game the system on a grand scale.
As much as I don't like the HMO's (and you KNOW this, Dave), I had to admit the insurance exec had a point. I'd far prefer the single payer system, but we can't have that (yet). For now, if we're to keep a healthy private insurance industry without allowing them to deny people for 'pre-existing conditions', then we've got to keep people from gaming the system as described above.
So the Dems had to compromise - no pre-existing conditions...for mandated coverage.
Now if the Republicans have a better way to get things done, I'd like to hear it - but they DON'T. Dave, apparently all you read was the summary...but it's the CBO that did the grunt work of digging into the details to find that the GOP plan is a giant economy-sized piece of bovine excrement that costs more and does less than the Democratic plan.
5 - handyguy
Christine: the 90 million 'estimate' you cite is just propaganda. Can't anybody cool their jets and have a rational discussion on this issue? Most people get insurance through their employers. Why would the government be plotting to take that coverage away?
This is just crazy talk. We're all happy those people are covered! The only way they lose coverage is if the employer stops offering it -- far more likely under the current insane system than a reformed one.
And how many people does Dave actually think will opt for jail rather than buy health insurance? And does he oppose jail terms for tax evasion as well, a similar penalty? How many people refuse to pay their taxes on principle and go to jail for it? And what do you think of them? [I think they're fools.]
If there is no mandate for young, healthy people to buy insurance, the risk pool shrinks and prices will go up. The mandate offers new customers to insurers in return for getting rid of coverage exclusions for pre-existing conditions etc.
6 - handyguy
The GOP "plan" doesn't have to work. It's just a rhetorical device.
7 - Glenn Contrarian
Christine -
"90 million will lose their plan under the Democratic bill"?
I suggest you check your sources, young lady. Try to find NON-PARTISAN sources, instead of just the ones who tell you what you want to hear.
That's why I pointed out how the NON-PARTISAN Congressional Budget Office had slammed the previous Democratic health reform plans - the CBO proved its impartiality.
I suggest you do the same.
8 - Christine
OK Mr. Partisan: (and actually at times you are!) What is the real number?
9 - Christine
And Glenn, before you start claiming propaganda, remember, the number of the uninsured went from 44 mil, then Obama said 20 mil, then it went up again. In fact the number has been all over the place...So which is it?
And why are you shouting at me again? LOL The CAPS are a dead giveaway!
10 - Dave Nalle
Christine, the real number is 308 million once enough time has passed.
I agree the GOP plan is not a complete and final plan, but the Democrat plan isn't any more viable. It contains too many provisions which are absolutely unacceptable to too many people and there's no way it is going to pass. They've put every controversial item back into it and added more.
Why is an unpassable, coercive and unworkable plan any more serious than a unpassable, incomplete and overly optimistic plan?
Dave
11 - Christine
Dave, thanks for clearing that uninsured number up. I was going absolutely crazy! lol
12 - zingzing
dave: "the real number is 308 million once enough time has passed."
and i have a time machine. once enough time has passed, we can see in to the future past. 308! 308! i'll bet my testicles on the 308!
13 - Arch Conservative
Dave points out that American Citizens could potentially go to prison for five years for no other reason than declining to purchase health insurance for themselves and from Glenn we get:
I didn't like the idea of being forced to buy the insurance either...
Gee.....how fucking magnanimous of you Glenn.
But wait it gets better.......
Handy......
"And how many people does Dave actually think will opt for jail rather than buy health insurance? "
That's not the point (gratuitous insult). What right does the government have to send people to prison for not buying a product for themselves? And you moonbats have the nerve to says conservatives are impugning personal freedom?
Lastly...what happened to all that transparency the Dems were running their mouths about? Didn't Pelosi say just a few short weeks ago that she would put the Dems House bill online for 72 hours before any vote for public consumption? Now we're supposedly going to see a vote onit this weekend and Lucifer....I mean Nancy Pelosi has not allowed the bill to be posted online for the American people to.
The obvious question is why? If the Dem House bill were such a great and wonderful piece of legislation that has the potential to help so many why are they hiding from the light of day. Logic would dictate that they'd want as many people to see it as possible. But yet they're afraid to allow the American people to see it.
Yet the GOP bill can be viewed online.
The Democrats are full of shit. Their bill isn't about health care reform and their actions prove it.
14 - Cobra
This is crazy.
For the umpteenth time, folks...
The CURRENT system is UNSUSTAINABLE.
If we do NOTHING the cost of insurance premiums will DOUBLE in the within the next 10 years. No fiscally responsible small or medium sized business (and most Americans get their coverage through work) can absorb 100% Health Care Premium Increases and continue doing business as usual.
They will either:
1. Lay off workers
2. Shut down
3. Freeze wage increases or switch to ultra-high deductable "roulette-style" policies.
4. Discontinue offering health care for their workers (most likely)
Don't take my word for it: Medpage Today
"Health insurance premiums, which doubled in the last decade, will nearly double again in the next 10 years, placing an increasing burden on families and employers if costs continue to grow at the current rate, a Commonwealth Fund report predicts.
In 2008, the average employer-sponsored insurance premium -- including the employer and family shares -- was $12,298, which represents an increase of 119% from 1999, according to the report.
That figure is expected to grow to $23,842 by 2020 if current trends continue.
Because premiums are expected to increase faster than median incomes, it will become harder for individuals to keep their insurance, according to lead author Cathy Schoen, senior vice president of the Commonwealth Fund, and colleagues.
"Without a change in course," they predicted, "projections of premium trends indicate that middle- as well as lower-income families may well be priced out of the insurance market, or forced to sacrifice future wage increases to hold onto shrinking health benefits."
Honestly, people...ask yourself a question--If your employer (if you have one) has to make a choice between remaining solvent and providing you with health care, what do you think they'll choose?
Republicans were in CHARGE. They could've made health care reform proposals. They chose NOT to, other than promoting corporate welfare for banks and Wall Street in the form of Health Care Savings Accounts.
People like Arch Conservative simply want the Democrats to fail at everything now that they're in charge. It's the only logical conclusion to draw if you look at the condition of the for-profit health care system in America.
People like Christine, rooting for the GOP Home Team, want to believe all the spin coming from Insurance Industry Execs (who fund the opposition to reform), and not research data:
"Several studies estimate the number of uninsured Americans. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 47 million Americans, or 20 percent of the population under the age of 65, were without health insurance in 2008, their latest data available.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) estimated that the percentage of uninsured Americans under age 65 represented 27 percent of the population. According to the MEPS data, nearly 54 million Americans under the age of 65 were uninsured in the first-half of 2007. 2
A recent study shows that based on the effects of the recession alone (not job loss), it is projected that nearly seven (7) million Americans will lose their health insurance coverage between 2008 and 2010. 3
Urban Institute researchers estimate that if unemployment reaches 10 percent, another six (6) million Americans will lose their health insurance coverage. Taking these numbers together, it is conceivable that by next year, 57 to 60 million Americans will be uninsured.
The Urban Institute estimates that under a worse case scenario, 66 million Americans will be uninsured by 2019. 4
Nearly 90 million people " about one-third of the population below the age of 65 spent a portion of either 2007 or 2008 without health coverage."
These aren't liberal activist groups throwing out these stats, Christine.
This is about Life and Death.
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.
"We're losing more Americans every day because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters."
What are you Conservatives and Republicans supporting in this debate, again?
--Cobra
15 - Arch Conservative
People like me?
Let's start with the basics Cobra. As I stated the Dem's bill is being kept in secret. Surely even you would like to know why. I agree with the your assertion that the current system needs to be revamped but does that mean we trade in big business for big government no questions asked?
You're right. I do want the Dems to fail. They have really bad ideas. What's wrong with wanting really bad ideas to fail?
Again the GOP's plan is available for the public to view and the Dem's is not. What is the reason for this and who do you trust more Cobra?
16 - Baritone
Yesterday, some idiot Rep congressman who's name escapes me at the moment claimed that Veterans don't like the care they get from the VA and that they would prefer to receive vouchers that would allow them to go to the private doctor of their choice.
That is bullshit!
The VA s a truly shining example of what can be achieved by government run healthcare.
I go to the Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indy. I get virtually everything under one roof. All of my records - every procedure, every test, every pill I've ever been given is on their computerized records. There is no hesitation to provide care, the quality of which is on par with about any private care available.
I've no doubt that there are some disgruntled patients. No system is perfect. But I am perfectly gruntled with VA healthcare.
Dave champions the Rep plan even though it has been shown, as noted above, to be essentially useless, and is predicted to be more of a burden on taxpayers and add to the deficit - the supposed holy grails of conservative politics. Do ANYTHING to oppose the Dems and Obama. ANYTHING!
B
17 - Dave Nalle
Bari, where did I champion the Rep plan? I just pointed out that it's no more worthless than the Dem plan, which is also completely idiotic.
Haley Barbour has it right on this issue. They need to go back and start over with something which has been thought out from the beginning and makes sense.
Dave
18 - Arch Conservative
"Dave champions the Rep plan even though it has been shown, as noted above, to be essentially useless,"
No. It hasn't and unlike the Dem plan it doesn't propose jail time for those who don't bend to the will of Nancy Pelosi.
19 - Glenn Contrarian
Y'know, not one of the cons on this page addressed the question of the insurance executive, the guy from THEIR side who ALSO doesn't want the Democrats to succeed.
If we are to keep a healthy private insurance industry as the conservatives want, AND if we are to take away the insurance industry's ability to reject coverage due to "pre-existing conditions" (such as what my oldest son has), then how are we supposed to stop the entire American public from gaming the system by waiting until they need to be admitted to the hospital before signing up for health insurance coverage?
THIS is one of those ESSENTIAL nuts-and-bolts issues that the GOP plan does NOT address, but the Democratic plan DOES.
Dave, Christine, Arch - it's REAL easy to give high rhetoric, to be all high-and-mighty about what's right and what ain't right...but what ain't so easy is getting down to the nitty-gritty, working through that 'devil in the details'. The Democratic plan addresses one of those 'devils in the detail' by eliminating "pre-existing conditions" while allowing the insurance industry to avoid being gamed. The GOP plan does not.
NOT ONE of the BC conservatives has a viable and pragmatic alternative that would enable the vast majority of the 50M presently uninsured to become insured.
But there's an alternative - single payer (like the VERY successful Medicare), like most of the rest of the industrialized democracies on the planet have. But because the conservatives and blue-dog Dems (all of whom are on the payroll of the insurance agencies who would lose billions) won't even consider such a proposal.
SO IF THE BC CONSERVATIVES HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE that WOULD cover the great majority of America's uninsured, that would allow those with pre-existing conditions (such as my oldest son) to receive coverage while at the same time allowing the insurance industry to avoid being 'gamed' as described above, I'd like to hear it.
But any such plan MUST be viable and pragmatic. The present GOP's plan, by accomplishing little while costing more to the American taxpayer, fails on both counts.
20 - Jet Gardner
"It is the sworn and sacred duty of every loyal Republican in Congress to make absolutely sure that this President accomplishes little or nothing during this term."
...and even that might be too much.
21 - Glenn Contrarian
And Christine -
There are two possibilities when it comes to the non-partisan CBO's negative evaluation of the GOP plan. One possibility is that the GOP is right and the non-partisan CBO is wrong. The OTHER possibility is that the GOP is WRONG and the CBO is right.
What's happening with you is that you are refusing to give the second possibility any consideration at all.
When the CBO slammed the Democratic plan this past summer, I didn't want to believe the CBO either. I was thinking that their opinion was due to the lingering politicization that the Bush administration had done by appointing so many Neo-cons to permanent government positions (which they DID do in so many cases).
But I was wrong. The leadership of the CBO was not changed, and while they gave a negative opinion on the Democrats' plan this past summer, they gave a positive opinion on the Democrats' new plan this past month.
You see, Christine - you can't ignore the possibility that the CBO is right and the GOP is wrong.
Sometimes your side is wrong, Christine. Sometimes the people you don't like are right. Right is right and wrong is wrong and neither one cares for personal and partisan pride.
Personally, I'm not afraid of being wrong. I'm only afraid of remaining wrong, of refusing to change my mind when someone shows me that I'm wrong.
22 - Clavos
the VERY successful Medicare...
Bwaaahaahhaaaahhaaa!
$60 billion a year lost to fraud.
Run by inept federal employees (I know, that's a tautology).
23 - Christine
Glenn: in a nutshell
First we take care of the poor, elderly and children
Medicaid is there for the poor.
Decrease the age for the elderly to include more.
In California we have "healthy families" subsidized by the government to cover children of the middle class. Each state should have this. All of these would increase the state taxes but not a massive tax!
Next: eliminate pre-existing conditions somehow. And like car insurance reward the healthy and if the sickness is due to ones lifestyle, somehow they need to be kept accountable. This is tricky but it can be proved by annual health and fitness evaluations. Including body fat tests, cholesterol, blood pressure etc. Add fitness trainers to health insurance coverage (like me and would add more health related jobs) and make the insured prove that they are taking measures to improve their health and reward them for doing so. I don't think it is fair that healthy tax payers should pay for those that eat twinkies all day long. Plus they already punish smokers. They do this with car insurance and each year I am a good driver my premiums are lowered.
Education: Add a huge wellness program to educate and motivate all toward health and fitness..not force!
Lastly, mandate health insurance, yet jail is ludicrous. And many have to prioritize, instead of flat screen tv's and iphones, they should be buying health insurance.
I'm sure I have more ideas but my daughter wants some watermelon!
24 - Glenn Contrarian
Um, Clavos - didja notice that almost NO conservative politicians are discussing making cuts to Medicare? Why do you think that is?
And didja notice that only the Democrats are floating a plan to cut Medicare costs? Part of which includes allowing Medicare to actually negotiate for lower prices (which ability the Republicans had outlawed)?
And WHO is committing the fraud? Medicare? Or the HMO's and doctors billing Medicare?
YEAH, Clavos - blame the victim! Sorta like Ms. Palin wanting to charge rape victims for the rape kits in Wasilla....
25 - Christine
PS, Medicaid and Medicare should be fixed; streamlined and I forgot about the fraud!