Americans Have A Choice – GOP Unveils Plan for Healthcare Reform

Posted by Tina

Republican in the House continue to work to get things done so that the American people can get back to work and stop worrying about their healthcare! Their latest effort is the unveiling of an alternative healthcare plan, the highlights of which are given in a statement released by Senators Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, Tom Coburn, M.D., R-Oklahoma, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The plan includes provisions for preexisting conditions, “continuous coverage” consumer protection, choice of policy provisions, healthcare savings tools, tax credit incentives, reforms to medicaid giving more flexibility to governors and healthcare providers and many other changes to improve the old system. The changes reflect the conservative view that power in the hands of individuals will make healthcare more accessible, more responsive to individual needs, and less costly:

Our proposal starts with a very different set of assumptions from those who designed ObamaCare. We believe Washington, D.C. should actually reform – not try to manage – the private health insurance market.

We trust the choices of individual patients and consumers, not paternalistic bureaucrats.

We encourage consumer engagement not by mandating individuals buy costly coverage, but by giving Americans purchasing power and allowing them to choose a plan of their choice that works for them.

The biggest problem with Obamacare is that it does not work for too many people; instead of solving problems that affect everyone it awards some Americans and punishes others. This is no way to run healthcare or America!

I know, the Democrats will tell us that Obamacare is the law of the land…that we already reformed healthcare, that it was passed by both houses of Congress, that it was upheld by the Supreme Court but…clearly, Obamacare is not working. In fact it has made a big mess of things. More people are without insurance than before the bill was passed and many Americans face much higher premiums, deductibles and co-pays for polices that don’t serve their needs. Doctors and hospitals have either been shoved out or are opting out. People find they need to hire an expensive lawyer or consultant just to know how to comply with the law…even then, there is no assurance the advice will be sound since the President keeps changing the law on the fly.

Today Michelle Obama is seeking $10.00 donations to protect Obamacare in a fundraising email:

Friend — Earlier this month, because of what you did, it became illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against the up to 129 million Americans living with pre-existing conditions. Young Americans are able to stay on their parents’ health care plans as they get on their feet, and we can now know that our insurance companies won’t put lifetime caps on our coverage.

You should be so proud of that. That happened because you organized, you talked to your friends and neighbors, and you chipped in what you could, when you could, to elect Barack and a Congress who supported his agenda.

Today, I’m asking you to do it again.

So before Barack gives his State of the Union address tomorrow, chip in $10 or more and help protect Obamacare…

Help…we need cash? I guess she means to protect Obamcare from the onslaught of dissaproval that most Americans now have for Obamacare and the fact that even a few Democrats are advising the president to cooperate with Republicans. One of them, Doug Schoen who was a Bill Clinton advisor has said:

Most of all, President Obama needs to work on his healthcare bill — the implementation of it, the fixes that it already needs and those that it will continue to need as time goes on. He can’t just continue to double down on his flagging policy.

Obama needs to be prepared to make necessary changes and even delay the law if necessary, especially given the latest disaster in Oregon with 40 percent increased emergency room visits for Medicaid subscribers since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. This is precisely what policymakers were hoping to avoid by giving people health insurance.

Young people still aren’t signing up. And we aren’t sure that web information is properly encrypted or being sent to insurance companies. What’s more, we still don’t know what policies insurance companies will offer.

The bottom line is that we need Democrats to be open to making changes and fixes. And Republicans need to offer clear alternatives like tort reform, interstate purchasing, and coverage of pre-existing condition in their proposals. The crusade to defund Obamacare has no place in the conversation in 2014. The law is here to stay. Now it’s up to our legislators to make it work.

One Problem Dougie…the Reid Obama dictator pact will not take your advice, will not budge on their law, and has no interest in working with elected Republicans. I think you know that too because you fell back on the liberal line, “The law is here to stay.” (Ever heard of the prohibition law?)

With all due respect, it isn’t “here to stay” if the American people decide they do not want it!

Republicans in the House and Senate (As well as a few Democrats in both Houses?) are prepared to tackle the problems that Americans faced before the Democrats deceitfully passed Obamacare to fix them. My guess is that there are more than a few Democrats that would secretly love to get this monstrosity off the books…better if its done before November.

The GOP alternative plan will work to deliver better healthcare and insurance choices to all Americans. The GOP plan would help ease tensions about the economy and jobs as millions of business people are relieved of the uncertainty, anxiety, and taxes that Obamacare has imposed.

The GOP offers a new choice to weary Americans who’ve grown tired and dissatisfied with Obamacare…all that is required is the will of the people to make it a reality. Let the GOP know you agree with their alternative reforms…NOW by clicking on the state and then the representative you wish to contact. Make Democrats aware of your preference for the GOP plan here.

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21 Responses to Americans Have A Choice – GOP Unveils Plan for Healthcare Reform

  1. Harold says:

    “all that is required is the will of the people to make it a reality”

    Well thats going to have to happen at the ballot box by making some seat changes in the Senate. Once Reid is out of the picture, possibly some bi-partisan work could start to take place and put the peoples interest ahead of political posturing.

  2. Tina says:

    Harold I think the left has really dug themselves a hole they can’t climb out of. They were warned that what they were proposing wouldn’t work but they just kept digging.

    If the people don’t vote strongly against them in the next two cycles that hole will get big enough to swallow us all. Think about it. We are already in much deeper in debt…something Democrats used to worry about. The real jobless number is over 30%. the middle class is shrinking and our stock market is propped up with smoke and mirrors and earning made from emerging markets rather than growth at home. The fed can’t do their Keynesian thing any longer so as they back off inflation will kick in, that scenario the with gas and food prices already high. Wages for those working have stagnated and seniors that might have moved on making room are afraid to retire. Add to that grim scenario higher healthcare expenses and a another big bureaucracy to pay for and what little hope there is is mighty slim

    I can’t watch the SOTU tomorrow night; can’t stand the thought of listening to the President go on and on with the same old happy hopey changey talk. I will read the transcript…or maybe just skim through it. I don’t anticipate anything that signals acknowledgement of failure or agenda change.

    It’s up to the people. Reid and Obama are dictating government now…even moderate Democrats have no voice.

  3. Libby says:

    Might this have something to do with why you can’t bear to watch the O-man tonight?

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnzogby/2014/01/28/state-of-the-union-chastened-but-still-fighting/

    Nice, neat summary, I thought.

  4. Jim says:

    About time, why didn’t they come up with this 5 years ago when the President was asking for more input on improving healthcare.

  5. Tina says:

    Jim they did. The left made sure you didn’t get the message or that the message was distorted or characterized so that it looked undesirable.

    The President didn’t want their input. He claims he does but his actions don’t reflect it. The man is a master at fooling the people and dividing the country.

  6. Tina says:

    Libby we are all too aware of his “strong” position…as long as you realize his position is only made strong by the tactics he has used and will use to put forth his agenda.

    The man legislates on his own and then pretends he’s being blocked…what a phony!

    We’ll see in the next two elections if the people agree with his phony “strong position” or have found him out.

  7. Libby says:

    “The President didn’t want their input.”

    Ooooooh, that’s a wicked lie. I remember. And I’ll be Jim does too. The Repugs in Congress objected, en masse, to the entire project and flatly refused to participate.

    What’s with all this history re-writing? The Dems shut down the government, not Cruz, et al. … and now this?

  8. Dewey says:

    Where was the healthcare law formed? LOL Heritage Foundation and then the final law came about as the result of the Dem and Rep bickering to pass it.

    GOP has not the interest of any citizen. Bottom Line in the end the political system is ran by big money for big money regardless of party.

    I sure hope no one in the Tea Party is on medicare cause that is hypocritical.

    These next elections will bring about the Independent party rise. It will take time but the money used to support the phony elections of Rep and Dem will be seen.

    Pick a politician any politician, the money is the same

    http://www.dirtyenergymoney.com/view.php?type=congress#view=connections

  9. Tina says:

    Libby: “Ooooooh, that’s a wicked lie. I remember. And I’ll be Jim does too. The Repugs in Congress objected, en masse, to the entire project and flatly refused to participate”

    Right, like the President didn’t set that notion up like a weasel:

    Forbes:

    President Obama. Just last month, President Obama asserted that if Republicans “had some better ideas” on health care, he was “happy to hear them. But I haven’t heard any so far.”

    Democratic National Committee. In a press release less than two weeks ago, the DNC claims: “When it comes to the issues that matter to middle class Americans – from health care to immigration reform and energy policy – the GOP is simply out of ideas.”

    Paul Krugman. It probably will not surprise anyone to see someone with such a widespread reputation for truth-twisting in general–not to mention health policy—on this list. Just this month, Mr. Krugman has assured us that Republicans have an “obsession with denying insurance to 30 million Americans.” He’s convinced their objective is “to deny essential health care and financial security to millions of their fellow Americans.” In discussing Obamacare’s misguided modified community rating reforms, he sneers “conservatives balk at the notion of any kind of redistribution, even if it makes almost everyone better off. So they are unable to come up with an alternative” (emphasis added: as we’ll see, Republicans have been able and willing for years to offer ample alternatives to creating affordable coverage). And when Republicans such as Rep. Paul Ryan do come up with serious plans to reform an entitlement that the Medicare actuary, Treasury Department, Congressional Budget Office, the non-partisan Peter G. Peterson Foundation (and yours truly) all agree is unsustainable, Krugman’s retort about Republicans is that “They don’t want to make Medicare sustainable, they want to destroy it under the guise of saving it.”

    Matt Miller. The Washington Post’s progressive health policy champion has a nifty explanation for why Republicans have failed to come up with a plan that covers as many uninsured at such a low expense as Obamacare: “That’s because the GOP does not view the presence of 50 million uninsured in a wealthy nation as an issue that needs to be addressed.”

    Alan Grayson. Along the same lines, there was this classic rant by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL):

    The Republicans’ health care plan for America: “Don’t get sick.” That’s right — don’t get sick. If you have insurance, don’t get sick; if you don’t have insurance, don’t get sick; if you’re sick, don’t get sick — just don’t get sick! That’s what the Republicans have in mind for you, America. That’s the Republicans’ health care plan. But I think that the Republicans understand that that plan isn’t always going to work — it’s not a foolproof plan. So the Republicans have a backup plan, in case you do get sick. If you get sick in America, this is what the Republicans want you to do. If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: “Die quickly.” That’s right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.

    Jonathan Cohn. To his credit, New Republic’s progressive health policy voice is willing to concede “Republicans do have plenty of ideas.” But then he quickly adds: “But they are not the kind of ideas that would come anywhere close to achieving universal coverage, at least in the way most people understand it.” As we will see, Republicans have offered plans that do at least as well as Obamacare in achieving universal coverage.

    Ezra Klein. Washington Post’s progressive blogger is similarly dismissive of a plan offered by former Bush HHS staffer Ben Domenech: “This isn’t a plan to ‘replace Obamacare.’ It’s a plan to do the opposite of replacing Obamacare. It’s as if I said I had a plan to fix the house by replacing the leaky roof, and you said you had a plan to fix the house by getting rid of the roof.”

    The take-home? Republicans have no health plan. Why? Because they don’t care about the uninsured. It’s fine with them if you get sick and die. Or if they do have a plan, it’s a lousy plan that won’t do much or will cost a boatload of money.

    So what you have is a President whose game is to come before the public to show his friendly side and act like he’s willing to work with and reaching out to Republicans. It’s all a sham. These are insincere performances. He uses words like “receptive” and bipartisan to make him seem open…it’s a flat out lie!

    When the opposition party leadership has effectively shut Republicans out of the process…and even Democrats out of the process…you bet they will come out four square against it.

    In June 2009 two spokesmen for the GOP responded to these charges in a piece titled, “Ten GOP Health Ideas for Obama,” By Newt Gingrich and John C. Goodman. Its posted at Save Your Rights

    :

    ‘If you have a better idea, show it to me.” That was President Barack Obama’s challenge two weeks ago to House Republicans regarding health-care reform. He has since called for a bipartisan forum, not to start over on health reform but to “move forward” on the “best ideas that are out there.”

    The best ideas out there are not those that were passed by the House and Senate last year, which consist of more spending, more regulations and more bureaucracy. If the president is serious about building a system that delivers more quality choices at lower cost for every American, here’s where he should start:

    • Make insurance affordable. The current taxation of health insurance is arbitrary and unfair, giving lavish subsidies to some, like those who get Cadillac coverage from their employers, and almost no relief to people who have to buy their own. More equitable tax treatment would lower costs for individuals and families. Many health economists conclude that tax relief for health insurance should be a fixed-dollar amount, independent of the amount of insurance purchased. A step in the right direction would be to give Americans the choice of a generous tax credit or the ability to deduct the value of their health insurance up to a certain amount.

    • Make health insurance portable. The first step toward genuine portability—and the best way of solving the problems of pre-existing conditions—is to change federal policy. Employers should be encouraged to provide employees with insurance that travels with them from job to job and in and out of the labor market. Also, individuals should have the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines. When insurers compete for consumers, prices will fall and quality will improve.

    • Meet the needs of the chronically ill. Most individuals with chronic diseases want to be in charge of their own care. The mother of an asthmatic child, for example, should have a device at home that measures the child’s peak airflow and should be taught when to change his medication, rather than going to the doctor each time. (continues with seven more points)

    Republicans have passed over forty bills in the House that could help businesses to create jobs. these bills have been prevented from being considered by republican and Democrat Senators by harry Reid who acts as Obama’s blocker. The radical leadership is a “my way or the highway” team and their strategy makes it clear they have no intention of working with republicans or giving them a place at the table in real discussion.

  10. Tina says:

    Dewey “Where was the healthcare law formed? LOL Heritage Foundation”

    Ideas were formed at the HF but Obamacare is another animal altogether.

    The radical, agenda driven Democrat leadership took a few good ideas, and a few bad ones later acknowledged by the HF, added thousands of pages of taxes and legislation, gave unprecedented power to an unelected body and the HHS secretary, sprinkled in their own ideas, like free contraceptives for women and floated it as a beneficial plan.

    It’s crap.

    You may register as an independent Dewey but your opinions and attitudes are all extreme left wing or radical anarchist.

    Your knowledge of conservative ideas is also “crap”.

  11. Tina says:

    Harriet! Great memory…we posted that video with Dr. Beller when she first made the comments. She was absolutely spot on then…nothng has changed but the agony Americans are feeling.

    Loved the ad on “compromise” too…very clever!

  12. Peggy says:

    Did anyone hear about the great job Scott Walker’s doing up there in Wisconsin? Didn’t think so. He was all over the news when the Dems was trying to get rid of him, but now that he has almost a billion dollar surplus and wants to give it back to the tax payers the media has gone silent.

    Thank God for the internet.

    Wisconsin budget surplus hits $977 million:

    Wisconsin budget surplus tops $977 million; Walker to unveil tax cut plan next week

    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s net budget surplus grew to nearly $1 billion, money that Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislative leaders are eyeing for income and property tax cuts.

    The net total surplus of $977 million was fueled by $893 million in tax collections above earlier projections, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported Thursday.

    News of the surplus, expected for weeks but larger than many anticipated, will set off a feeding frenzy in the Capitol among lobbyists, special interest groups and lawmakers all trying to spend a piece of the pie.

    “The additional revenue should be returned to taxpayers because it’s their money, and my administration will work with the Legislature to determine the most prudent course of action,” Walker said in a statement.”

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wisconsin-budget-surplus-hits-977-205131182.html

  13. Peggy says:

    #4 Jim, Remember the Dems had control of both houses in Congress. The TV cameras showed the Dems were meeting behind locked doors. They would come running out to go vote on the House/Senate floor and then hurry back in.

    They kept the Republicans out, rejected their input and rammed the bill through while they had total control.

  14. Tina says:

    Scott Walker is doing a bang up job for the people of Wisconsin. I understand that many of the school districts report that their budgets have greatly improved with the benefit going to the class rooms!

    Quite a number of Republican governors have had success with their policies; many of them reporting much improved job numbers…that has certainly helped the national unemployment number which declined slightly.

    Did you know that the Republicans have at least forty possible Presidential candidates from which to choose, most of them quite young. We will have strong candidates for years to come…can the Dems claim as much?

  15. Dewey says:

    Tina you are plain wrong. Maybe you should read the bill.

    The new Tea Party Plan?…..their entire plan for fixing the old broken healthcare system, is to go back to the old broken healthcare system.

    Bottom Line is they want more corruption and profit.

    Even Romney’s team was consulted.

    Just exactly which section of the bill bothers you the most? Ya know actual language of the bill. I know it will need some tuning as we go along but I have yet to see any real language or discussion on the ACA here. Just the same old repeated Propaganda.

    Personally I have a better plan and feel no sorrow for people in Tea Party Gov states who got ripped by their gov’s not participating. Let them pay more after all that is their elected choice!

    I sure hop no tea party members are on medicare while voting to get rid of it

  16. Princess says:

    This plan looks a lot like Obamacare. It gets rid of the individual mandate and lowers the subsidy income level. It also gets rid of the provision that people with pre-existing conditions have to be covered. It still allows “kids” to stay on their parents health insurance until age 26. I don’t see a whole lot of difference here and I don’t know why it took forever to come out with this.

    Obamacare is designed to provide affordable coverage to those who don’t have insurance. The problem is many of us do have insurance but it still costs a fortune and when we use it we have to pay even more out of pocket. I pay $45 to go to the doctor on top of my monthly premium which is almost $1,000 for family coverage. If we need surgery or hospitalization I have a deductible. Once again we are doing everything for the people not in the middle class.

  17. Peggy says:

    #15 Tina: “Did you know that the Republicans have at least forty possible Presidential candidates..”

    Yes, I heard about it on The Blaze and Fox. I’m sure none of the other stations covered it. Really is a good pool and even has Susana Martinez and Nikki Haley on it. Right now the top of the list for me is Ted Cruz.

    I’d love to see the whole slate set up during the election and include the cabinet. There are individuals I’d like to see serve as AJ and Sec. of Defense, etc. I think it would pull in votes too to see people voters really like and know they’ll be a part of the team.

  18. Libby says:

    Princess: “I don’t see a whole lot of difference here and I don’t know why it took forever to come out with this.”

    Oooh, oooh, oooh! I know! I know! (Can you see me bouncing in the chair?)

    It’s because, until very recently … until the denouement of the government shutdown, in fact … those Republican legislators and denizens of Bubbleland, who flatly refused to participate, except to obstruct the development of the legislation (Tina’s attempts to revise recent history notwithstanding), thought that they would be able simply to irradicate the legislation.

    Finally, they have realized that, while the citizens are not thrilled with the ACA, nobody is interested in going back to those “good old days” … cause they were horrible, actually.

    And so … the Repugs, finally, have an alternate plan! … which does look astonishingly like the ACA.

    Yawn.

  19. Tina says:

    Libby you and Dewey are amazing. First you insist that Obamacare was basically stolen from a conservative think tank, then you attempt to float the notion that republicans have never had a plan.

    Which is it?

    The progressives took the republican ideas and added tons of socialist bureaucratic controls, heavy taxes, and thousands of pages of expensive punishing regulations. They turned easy remedies into a piece of nightmarish crap.

    Apparently Moody’s has downgraded the rating for health insurers and is blaming the lower rating on Obamacare:

    Moody’s rating agency has lowered the outlook for health insurers from stable to negative, blaming ObamaCare.

    Few Americans will shed tears for insurance companies. But the Moody’s announcement is a warning sign to taxpayers. They’ll be getting clobbered.

    Section 1342 of the Affordable Care Act forces taxpayers to make insurers whole for most of the losses incurred selling ObamaCare exchange plans through 2016. The bailout is designed to conceal the failure of the president’s signature health law until he is out of office.

    No one in the Obama administration talked up the advantages of bailing out insurers. It was kept under wraps until the fall of 2013. That’s when 5 million to 6 million health plans were canceled because they didn’t comply with ObamaCare’s one-size-fits-all coverage requirements effective Jan. 1.

    Insurers developed new plans, as the health law required, set premiums (generally higher) and sent out notices canceling the old plans.

    That caused public outrage. Trying to quell it, the president ignored his own law and told insurance companies on Nov. 14 they could keep selling the old plans. Insurers were caught off guard. They predicted there would be less demand for their new plans and that they’d lose money.

    Here’s where the plot thickens. On the same day, an Obama administration health official, Gary Cohen, announced that the federal government (taxpayers) will offset most losses, citing Section 1342.

    Sweetening what the law already guarantees, he pledged to “modify” the bailout’s “final rules to provide additional assistance.” That’s when Congress finally did its job and read Section 1342.

    Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called it a “dirty little secret” and offered legislation to repeal it. House Republicans held a hearing at which Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius confessed that the administration had never tried to estimate what the guarantee could cost taxpayers.

    Ah, how freely government bureaucrats spend other people’s money.(continues)

    The goal all along, as many on the left have revealed, is SINGLE PAYER like they have in England.

    Has anyone read about the recent developments in the oft celebrated HHS in England? The healthcare system is deep in debt:

    NHS hospitals face having to cut staff and services amid the worst financial outlook for almost a decade – with almost half forecasting they will end the current financial year in debt, records show.

    Board reports covering all 145 hospital trusts in England disclose that 44 per cent expect to end the year in deficit – with a combined “black hole” of more than £330 million between them.

    Senior NHS officials said organisations are struggling to cope with pressures on Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments, with hospitals recording their highest ever levels of emergency admissions in the run-up to Christmas.

    Many organisations are spending heavily on agency staff, with a 60 per cent rise in the total bill for locum doctors in the past three years, with doctors being paid up to £1,500 a shift.

    The figures suggest widespread financial problems, which have not been seen in recent years, since a crisis in 2006, which led to mass job losses, cuts to hospital services, and the resignation of the NHS chief executive.

    This on top of reports over the last few years of poor conditions in hospitals and patients being denied basic services and treatments or being forced to wait for months for treatment.

    Guess what? It’s not going all the well in Massachusetts either.

  20. Libby says:

    “First you insist that Obamacare was basically stolen from a conservative think tank, ….”

    It was! Romney-Care Revisited, that’s what we got. Which is better than nothing … but single-payer, this is the Holy Grail … and we will get there yet!

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