GOP health plan: a road to nowhere
Here’s the dirty secret about the House Republicans’ efforts to replace Obamacare: They haven’t even decided if they will hold a vote.
Not to mention, the House GOP would still have to repeal Obamacare in order to implement whatever alternative health care plan they release, which isn’t going to happen as long as President Barack Obama is sitting in the Oval Office.
Continue Reading(Also on POLITICO: Obamacare meets March Madness)In the next few weeks and months, the House Republican Conference — with Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) playing the key role — will spend lots of time talking about crafting its own health care plan, one that would be positioned as an alternative to the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
But with a Republican alternative to Obamacare come serious practical and political problems that could prevent the legislation from even getting to the House floor. A critical midterm election is just a few months away. Public opinion is firmly against Obama’s health care law, and releasing specific bills could take the focus off the Democrats’ squirming.
Republicans aren’t even convinced they will find consensus on any specific set of new health care bills. The ideas they’re discussing — the ability to buy insurance across state lines, wider use of health savings accounts and cutting federal regulations — are the same principles they have kicked around since 2009. But the party is not much closer to finding a proposal — or set of proposals — that would garner enough Republican support to pass the House.
Not to mention, some of the policies the GOP is considering — including state-based high-risk pools — already exist and don’t work very well. Endorsement of these policies by the House Republican Conference could leave Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his leadership team open to heavy political fire from the White House and Hill Democrats.
They also have to contend with a tough set of political circumstances — including their colleagues on the other side of the Capitol dome. Three Senate Republicans — Richard Burr of North Carolina, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — have offered a proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare with “market-based reforms,” mainly in how employer-based health coverage is taxed. The Republican Study Committee, the leading group of House GOP conservatives, has its own plan, as does Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.).
Furthermore, several senior Republican lawmakers and aides suggested it’s a mistake to allow vulnerable Democrats a vote on an alternative to the current health care law. Following Democrats’ disastrous loss in a recent special election in Florida — partially due to Obamacare’s continued unpopularity — some Republicans aren’t eager to give Democrats a way out. Obamacare, these Republicans say, will play a major role in the 2014 election, and a GOP alternative will only distract from the Democrats’ support of Obama’s signature legislative achievement.
There’s even a concern about how Republicans would brand this effort: They don’t just want to “replace” Obamacare, because they believe Obama’s approach is flawed and needs to be repealed outright. Instead, Republicans say they must offer their own market-based solutions, rather than government mandates.
Cantor has verbally committed the party to a vote and, behind the scenes, is driving House Republicans in that direction. Pushing an alternative falls in line with Cantor’s push to market the party as a legitimate alternative to Obama, not just knee-jerk Republican opposition to the White House.
“The majority leader supports moving legislation,” said Doug Heye, Cantor’s deputy chief of staff. “Discussions on this [package] are still ongoing, both on policy and on process.”
Cantor has been working with several of the top Republican committee chairmen — including Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton and Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, both of Michigan , and Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline of Minnesota, among others — to assemble proposals for a GOP package.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/gop-health-plan-could-be-road-to-nowhere-104783.html#ixzz2wT7GjVmg
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