Fearing the impact of Democratic reforms, Republicans prepare their own medical care plan

The debate over health care reform has been a contentious and time consuming one, with Republicans continually alleging that the Democratic medical plan is too expensive to be sustainable and programs such as the public health insurance option are tantamount to socialized medicine. With reform opponents in the senate vowing to filibuster the sweeping health bills put forth by Senator Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Republicans are poised to introduce their own medical care plan by the end of the week. Poised as an alternative to the Democratic bills making their rounds in the house, the plan provides less sweeping changes in an effort to keep costs lower. The Wall Street Journal predicts that the Democratic legislation will expand health coverage to more than 30 million American citizens currently living without insurance at a 10-year cost of $1trillion - a scope that Ohio Senator John Boehner claims the Republican bill will not try to match. "What we do is we try to make the current system work better," he claims in an interview with Larry King. "At the end of the day, what we're doing with our proposal is lowering health care insurance premiums, lowering cost and expanding access." The Republican plan seeks to provide grants for states that would use innovative solutions to expand health coverage while maintaining or lowering costs through high-risk pools which cover individuals with serious needs linked to pre-existing conditions. The Republican proposition also calls for new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and better consolidation options for small businesses to buy health insurance in groups, like unions and large corporations do. Boehner also claims that the Republican bill would not raise taxes, require individuals and businesses to buy insurance plans or cut Medicare benefits as the Democratic plan would. The Democratic bill posed by Pelosi would raise $474 billion dollars by cutting Medicare benefits, while the creation of a 5.4% surtax on high-income individual would generate a further $460.5 billion - representing the bulk of the propositions $1 trillion price tag. "The American people deserve health care reform that will work, not another round of so-called reform that repeats the same failed policies of the past," says Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma in an interview with the Insurance Journal. "Congress and the administration have the opportunity to pursue bold reform and a fresh start. The Patients' Choice Act will provide every American with access to affordable health care without a tax increase, more debt and waiting lines." Medical Plan News provided by Healthcare.com

News Headlines for Tuesday, November 3 2009