DO REPUBLICANS HAVE A HEALTH CARE REFORM PLAN?

Part 3 in Health Care Reform Series

One benefit of the February 25, 2010 Blair House Health Care Reform Summit was that Democrats for the first time acknowledged that Republicans had ideas.  According to the obvious talking points of various Democrat senators and representatives, these ideas were suddenly "many," and remarkably they were all "included" somewhere in the expansive health care bill.

However, we Americans were called to merely trust the President and his cohorts' words that this was fact.  We were given no real justification to believe them.  No pages or quotes from the Democrat bill were given to support their claims of bipartisanship.  Nothing was heard but talking points and a little scolding from the President.  Again, darkness would remain where we would have enjoyed light.

So what, if any, is the Republican's plan to reform health care law?  Let's look back at what they have presented as solutions thus far.

Back on October 31, 2009, House Republican Leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio presented the Republican's "common-sense health care reform our nation can afford," in an address to the nation.  He emphasized four reforms that would lower health care costs and expand access to quality care without a government takeover.  Republicans oppose the proposed Democrat plan because it would result in many unwanted effects, including:  jobs being killed, higher taxes on small businesses, and cutting Medicare for seniors.

On behalf of Republicans, Boehner proposed the following:

• Number one:  let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines.
• Number two:  allow individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do.
• Number three:  give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs.
• Number four:  end junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs by increasing the number of tests and procedures that physicians sometimes order not because they think it's good medicine, but because they are afraid of being sued.

These simple steps would go a long way towards reforming health care problems that limit access and increase costs.  Certainly, it would take some time for people to see all the benefits of these beginning steps, but they would turn our country in the right direction.

Replying to the President during the Blair House Summit, Republican Senator Lamar Alexander expounded further, this time with six points.

• First, you [Mr. President] mentioned Mike Enzi's work on the small business health care plan.  That's a good start.  It came up in the Senate.  He will explain why it covers more people, costs less, and helps small businesses offer insurance.
• Two, helping Americans buy insurance across state lines.  You've mentioned that yourself.  Most of the governors I've talked to think that would be a good way to increase competition.
• Number three, put an end to junk lawsuits against doctors.  In our state, half the counties' pregnant women have to drive to the big city to have prenatal health care or to have their baby, because the medical malpractice suits have driven up the insurance policies so high that doctors leave the rural counties.
• Number four, give states incentives to lower costs.
• Number five, expanding health savings accounts.
• Number six, House Republicans have some ideas about how my friend in Tullahoma can continue to afford insurance for his wife who has had breast cancer; because she has a preexisting condition, it makes it more difficult to buy insurance.  So there're six ideas—they're just six steps.  Maybe the first six, but combined with six others and six more and six others, they get us in the right direction.

Senator Alexander made the point that the health insurance companies are not the main problem.

"Now, some say we need to rein in the insurance companies; maybe we do.  But I think it's important to note if we took all of the profits of the health insurance companies entirely away, every single penny of it, we could pay for two days of health insurance for Americans.  And that would leave 363 days with costs that are too high.  So that's why we continue to insist that as much as we want to expand access and to other things in health care, that we shouldn't expand a system that' this expensive, that the best way to increase access is to reduce costs."

Alexander also pleaded with the Democrats not to use strong-arm partisan strategies to jam through this unpopular legislation:

"Now, in conclusion, I have a suggestion and a request for how to make this a bipartisan and truly productive session.  And I hope that those who are here will agree, I've got a pretty good record of working across party lines, and of supporting the president when I believe he's right, even though other members of my party might not on that occasion.  And my request is this:  before we go further today, that the Democratic Congressional leaders and you, Mr. President, renounce this idea of going back to Congress and jamming your bill through on a partisan vote through a little-used process we call reconciliation."

It is now apparent, two weeks past the unsuccessful summit, that Mr. President and the Congressional leaders have rejected any ideas of working with the Republicans.  The strong-arm tactics and deal-making in Congress are occurring at levels many veterans say they have never seen. The President has postponed an important Asian trip that he planned to take with his wife and children who would be on spring break next week.  Instead, he has promised that he will pass this health care reform legislation, "if it kills me." 

This is definitely do or die for the President and Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  The reconciliation process will be forced, and Pelosi even has plans to circumvent the Constitution through her House Rules Committee.  While Article I of the Constitution says that Congress shall pass legislation with each member voting Yea or Nay and recording the votes, Pelosi plans to use the rules committee to proclaim that the House has already essentially passed the bill and it should go to the President without a vote.  This is blatantly unconstitutional.

It is clear that not only is Congress having its arms twisted, but the American people feel they and the Constitution are being twisted by the current out-of-control Democrat administration and congress.  There is still power in the people if we will demand our Constitutional rights.  The best we can do now is to call our representatives, hound them if need be, write letters to the editor—any way to let our voices be heard.  Oh, and pray, "God save America and bless her again!"