Even though the venerable New York Times says it “has no chance of passing,” buzz is building around a GOP alternative health plan that counts among its key provisions enhancing Health Savings Accounts, allowing dependents to remain on their parents’ policies through age 25 and encouraging the sale of insurance policies across state lines.
The bill was released yesterday evening, and The Washington Post’s Ben Pershing reports: “[House Minority Leader John Boehner] said he also expected to have the GOP’s bill online for 72 hours, though it remains unclear whether the minority’s proposal will actually get a shot on the floor. …. Some GOP lawmakers have used controversial language in criticizing the Democrats’ bill. On the House floor Monday, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said: ‘ I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country. ‘ Asked for his reaction to Foxx’s comment, Boehner said ‘ members are entitled to their opinions ‘ but wouldn’t say whether he agreed with the sentiment. “
Bloggers reacted even when there was only a draft:
NPR’s April Fulton writes on their Health Blog that the plan is creating “a strong feeling of deja vu.” Fulton continues, “That’s because the 230-page draft contains a laundry list of material the GOP has trotted out for years but has never quite gotten through Congress.”
Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky quips, “We Read the GOP Health Care Plan So You Don’t Have To.” Volsky offers a brief summary of the plan and concludes, “In short, the amendment shifts the costs and risks of insurance onto individuals and divides the market into low-cost plans for the healthy and high-cost insurance for the sick.”
Think Progress’ Matthew Yglesias isn’t impressed either:
If you’re uninsured, this won’t help you.
If you’re insured, but you worry that circumstances beyond your control—a global financial meltdown leading to layoffs at your company, say—this won’t help you.
If you’re insured, but you worry that if you get sick your insurer will gin up some pretext to drop your coverage, this won’t help you.
If you’re insured but your premiums are escalating so fast you worry that you won’t be able to afford to keep paying them, this won’t help you.
Politico Pulse interviews Boehner spokesman Michael Steel, who defends the plan:
The GOP plan, not the Democrats’ trillion-dollar government takeover, is what most Americans want. It focuses on lowering health care costs and increasing access to quality care – including for those with pre-existing conditions – at a price our country can afford. Our plan does not try to do EVERYTHING because the American know we can’t pay for that. When the Democrats criticize the scope of our bill, they are, in fact, making our point.
Meanwhile, conservative commentators are encouraged by news that a health overhaul bill could be pushed into the new year.
Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey says President Obama’s other priority — a cap-and-trade bill — could be in danger as well., “If the health-care overhaul gets pushed into 2010, that strategy goes out the window — for both bills. The closer their votes come to Election Day, the less enthusiastic red-state Democrats will get about either of them, perhaps especially cap-and-trade. With majorities of likely voters unhappy with both bills, Democrats would be daring the electorate to throw them out of power in the House, and handing the Republicans an easy campaign against big government, high taxation, and undisciplined spending.”
And Reason’s Peter Suderman thinks the Right’s efforts to slow down the bills’ progress are working:
Opposition strategy on health care has consisted of three parts—delay, delay, and delay—on the theory that the longer this drags on, the less likely it is to pass. I think that theory is basically sound: Pollster.com shows opposition to the health-care bill rising pretty steadily throughout the year. Indeed, this tactic—let’s call it the Rolling Stones-strategy—recently pushed public opposition to the plan past the 50 percent mark, proving that for those trying to take down the once-inevitable health-care bill, time is most definitely on their side.
Tags: boehner, gop, hsa, state policy
