The GOP Plan for Healthcare Reform

You can call me optimistic or simply crazy but the reality is that I don’t think there is a political party that doesn’t want some type of healthcare reform. Still healthcare reform is not a political ideology issue but it is an American issue so for Democrats and liberals to scream that Republicans don’t have a plan or that they don’t want healthcare reform is just not true. The Republican Party and their congressional leaders in both the House and the Senate have ideas to fix healthcare in this nation. As Representative Tom Price said in an article entitled “How the GOP wants to fix health care” on July 30, 2009, he says that “Thursday marks the anniversary of the most significant piece of health care legislation in our nation’s history. It was on this day in 1965 that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law, ensuring government health care for seniors. Forty-four years later, Congress is debating another monumental act that may affect the health coverage of every American. Contrary to what the president has tried to convince the American people of, while we oppose his misguided ideas, Republicans are committed to positive health reform. No one in Congress finds the status quo acceptable.”

I believe Rep. Pence because if anyone in Congress finds the healthcare status quo acceptable than we the American people should vote them out today. Representative Pence goes on to say that, “Having practiced medicine for more than two decades, he personally knows that the status quo must not stand. Whether coming from the federal government or an insurance company, the third-party decision making that drives our health care delivery system is increasingly distancing patients from quality care. Going down the path of more government will only compound the problem. While the stated goal remains noble, as a physician, I can attest that nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government’s intrusion into medicine through Medicare. Because of Washington’s one-size-fits-all approach, its flawed coverage rules and broken financing mechanisms, seniors are increasingly having care rationed while federal health spending spirals out of control.”

Rep. Pence is right when he describes healthcare in the form of Medicare because Medicare has tons of problems and issues but it also has parts of it that does work. That is something that many Republicans and Rep. Pence doesn’t want to talk about. Rep. Pence says, “And though newly eligible Medicare patients struggle even to find a doctor who can accept them, the president appears immovable in his belief that what is needed to fix health care is more government involvement. His proposal can only be described as a government takeover of health care.” Still Pence is misinformed himself because President Obama beliefs are not that and in fact no idea the President has expressed shows that he wants a government takeover of healthcare. In fact President Obama wants just the opposite and just wants to reform health insurance in order to make it more affordable for millions of Americans as well as more cost efficient for those with healthcare.

Still Rep. Pence speaks of how we as nation would go from a government-run plan that will eviscerate private insurance to prescriptive coverage regulations that require all plans to meet a government definition of care to bureaucratic boards that will decide which treatments are appropriate and who is eligible, the proposal before the House would hand over to Washington nearly every decision that should be made by patients and their physicians. Put simply, the president’s vision of reform would do irreparable harm to an American health care system that, for all its faults, provides the world’s greatest care. Rep. Pence says, “To build support, the president continues to hang his hat on a false choice, asserting that Americans are doomed to either the status quo or a government takeover of health care. Yet there is a third way that puts patients in charge. We can achieve reform that lowers costs and ensures the highest quality of care without handing over personal medical decisions to unaccountable bureaucrats.”

In fact the Republican Study Committee has introduced legislation to positively reform America’s health system as of two weeks ago. The Empower Patients First Act relies on the principle that, by increasing patients’ control over their health decisions, it will make coverage more affordable, accessible and responsive, while offering more choices and the highest-quality care. The bill seeks to achieve universal coverage by ensuring there is no financial reason to go without health insurance. By offering responsible tax incentives, patients will be empowered to purchase the care that best fits their needs. The legislation also moves ownership of health plans from a third party to patients. When insurers are forced to be responsive to individuals, we will see the industry move to a more patient-centered model we should all seek.

Further, the bill provides for robust pooling mechanisms so patients may unite with the purchasing power of millions. This will lower costs for Americans while ensuring those with pre-existing conditions have a market in which to purchase affordable care. As cost continues to be a sticking point in reform, the Empower Patients First Act tackles other drivers of health costs by breaking down barriers that outlaw the purchase of health care across state lines and by providing meaningful liability reform. With the creation of new health courts that take into consideration the expert opinions of medical specialty societies — those who actually know what caring for patients is like — we will see a dramatic drop in the costly practice of defensive medicine.

Still what the Empower Patients First Act does not include is a public option that could lead to singer payer which is what the GOP and insurance companies are against. Democratic Representative Barney Frank said that passing healthcare legislation that includes a public option health insurance option could lead to a more expansive single payer system in which all Americans would receive government health insurance. Rep. Frank is on record saying he thinks if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer and that's the best way to reach single payer. Rep. Frank told a member of Single Payer Action, an activist group in favor of the universal government plan that he is a "big sponsor" of the single payer system but reiterated his support for the less-comprehensive public option.

This is what the GOP Plan is against but as Frank explained, "The best way we're gonna get single payer, the only way, is to have a public option to demonstrate its strength and its power." This is true, a public option is key to healthcare reform because it allows people like me to get healthcare coverage that isn’t already affordability to many Americans currently. The Massachusetts Democrat made his remarks while entering the National Press Building on Monday. The video of Frank's comments is below:



Still a public option leading to sing payer is what Republicans like the House minority John Boehner say could handicap small businesses. In his July 31st commentary to CNN.com entitled, “Health bill could handicap small businesses”, Rep. Boehner explains how before he was elected to Congress, he ran a small plastics packaging business in Cincinnati, Ohio, providing products and services, creating jobs and meeting payroll. He says thanks to the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which shields employers who offer benefits to their employees from being pummeled by laws that vary from state to state, I was also able to offer health care and pension benefits to my employees. Rep. Boehner goes on to say, “As every small-business owner knows, this can be quite a balancing act, but I count it as one of the most rewarding times of my life -- a time that led to my service in Congress. Whenever I cast a major vote in the House, I find myself thinking back to those days and how the policies we are debating will affect small businesses like mine. After all, I first decided to run for elective office because government -- at all levels -- was too often an impediment to my firm's success.”

Boehner says, “With Blue Dog Democrats having announced a "deal" with congressional Democratic leaders to move forward on health care legislation after the August legislative break, I've again put myself back into the shoes of a small-business man. Unfortunately, the Democratic chairmen of the three House committees that crafted the legislation don't have that same type of real-world experience. None of them have run a business before -- and looking at this legislation, it shows. Rather than helping small businesses with common-sense solutions to make health care more affordable, the Democrats' bill actually creates a climate that destroys jobs and does nothing to slow the cost-shifting to businesses and employees that is one of the fundamental problems with health care in our country today.”

To a degree Boehner is right but having a public option would create competition in the market and would force many insurance companies to adjust their healthcare package prices to make them more affordable for small businesses and their employees to buy healthcare coverage. Boehner believes that government competition is not a good thing because it would lead private insurance companies to go out of business while trying to compete with the government option but that is perhaps true unless Congress implements a flat price for a healthcare package that is amendable and affordable for those Americans like myself who don’t have healthcare and those who can afford it but choose not to have it because it is too costly to them to a degree. Boehner explains, “At the heart of the Democrats' plan are an income tax surcharge that will fall heavily on entrepreneurs who run small businesses and a harsh mandate that requires employers to provide health care or face a penalty -- a mandate that could eviscerate ERISA by persuading employers to stop offering health care benefits to their employees.” This is true but only in one of the three bills in the house which is a part of the problem to begin with in the healthcare debate which is there is not one clear cut healthcare plan to begin with.

Rep. Boehner says “After five years, the Democrats' legislation requires all employer-provided health care plans to be approved by the Department of Labor and a new health choices commissioner. Employers that do not provide a plan would be forced to pay an 8 percent payroll tax. Incredibly, employers could be slapped with this penalty even if an employee is offered quality health coverage and refuses it. Because this tax is -- in most instances -- less costly than providing a health care plan, many employers will simply forgo employee health benefits. That's why a June 15, 2009, study by the Congressional Budget Office warns that Democratic legislation could force 15 million Americans who currently receive their health coverage through their employers -- not to mention 8 million Americans who receive health care from other sources -- onto the government rolls.” Now the report is true from the CBO but the reality is that there is no plan for how to pay for healthcare in this nation yet. There are tons of ideas thrown around and are in at least one of the fives bills floating around Congress right now but neither plan is exactly the same and neither plan is iron clad in terms of how healthcare reform will be paid for.

Still Rep Boehner goes on to say the GOP idea for healthcare reform like Rep. Pence did by saying, “Republicans believe we can achieve real health care reform without destroying jobs and undermining ERISA. In the House, we've outlined a plan to strengthen the employer-provided health care system. Our proposal establishes small-business health plans, which allow smaller firms to band together through associations and purchase quality health care -- even across state lines -- at a more affordable cost. It provides small businesses tax credits to defray the administrative costs of providing health coverage for their employees. It gives states incentives to reform their insurance markets so insurance companies are able to compete and increase employers' and employees' purchasing power. And it reins in junk lawsuits that lead to defensive medicine and higher premiums.”

Rep. Boehner goes on to say, “To expand access to quality care, our proposal includes tax credits so those who are uninsured can purchase plans that work for them. It promotes health savings accounts that give employees more control over their own health care decisions. And it ends the bias many insurance companies have shown against those with pre-existing conditions, while focusing on innovative preventive care and wellness programs.” Boehner continues to state the GOP plan by saying that the plan supported by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders rejects virtually all of these reforms and places blind faith in a massive new government bureaucracy that the Congressional Budget Office warns will drive health care costs -- not to mention the federal debt we'll pass along to future generations -- higher than ever. And it begins with the tax-and-mandate scheme that undermines the employer-provided health care system that has made it possible for small businesses like the one I used to run to provide health benefits for millions of our employees. Boehner is just false in these statements because some of these ideas have been implemented in one of the bills in the House and one of the ideas in the Senate where GOP leaders are working with Democrats more better than they are in the House.

Nonetheless, House Republicans have laid out common-sense solutions to confront the heart of our health care crisis: soaring costs being shifted onto businesses and employees at an unmanageable pace. On behalf of our nation's small businesses and the millions to whom they provide jobs and benefits, Boehner hopes the speaker reconsiders her "go-it-alone" approach and I agree with him that all ideas should be considered that are sensible and affordable as well as are real reforms for healthcare. When Congress returns to work in September, we need to build on what works in health care, rather than replacing it with a one-size-fits-all government-run system that will destroy jobs by squeezing payrolls and force millions of employers to stop offering health care benefits. That is something that no America can afford to allow to happen which is why the debate for healthcare is needed but once September hits we need action.

The GOP just wants to reform healthcare without growing government and in an op-ed piece that Senator Judd Gregg wrote he explains that it is possible. Sen. Gregg says, “To be effective, health care reform must include insurance coverage for everyone, encourage prevention measures, and reform the inefficiencies in our system to ensure the future strength of our economy.” CPR—Coverage, Prevention, Reform—is a plan that even I support to a degree but nonetheless the GOP has ideas that are amendable and sensible. Sen. Gregg says that CPR sets up a system where every American will be required to purchase meaningful health insurance to ensure each family will be protected against bankruptcy if a family member becomes seriously ill or injured. No family should lose their home or life-savings because of illness or injury. For those who may not be able to afford this plan, you will have assistance getting coverage.

CPR would aggressively focus on the need for more robust preventive care and creates incentives for people and businesses to work toward better health sooner, rather than later when such measures may not work and crisis treatment is much more costly. By offering first-dollar coverage for early health screenings and immunizations, this program will create the foundation for healthy lifestyles and reduce the need for later treatments. Further, by rewarding employees for taking part in employer-sponsored programs, which often include programs to help people quit smoking, fitness club membership options, and affordable access to programs like Weight Watchers, CPR creates incentives that will motivate Americans to take control of and improve their personal health.

The third component of CPR entails much needed reform of the way we pay for health care in this country. As it stands now, health care constitutes 17% of the U.S. economy, an amount that totals more than $8,000 annually for every person in the U.S. We already have more than $38 trillion in promised Medicare benefits over the next 75 years that we don’t know how to pay for. The President himself has stated, "The biggest threat to our nation’s balance sheet is the skyrocketing cost of health care." We don’t need more health care that spends more taxpayer dollars to grow government; we need better health care that offers Americans peace of mind and quality care at prices they can afford. Reform starts with paying for quality, not quantity. According to a study at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, as much as $750 billion is spent each year on procedures or health-related services that don’t necessarily help patients get better. For example, when discharging patients, hospitals have an obligation to provide patients with a care plan to ensure they don’t end up readmitted. However, Medicare pays more to hospitals when a patient ends up back in the hospital. And physicians are paid more when they order more tests, procedures and office visits, whether you need them or not.

So we need to ask ourselves: Would we pay our dinner bill if the waiter spilled our first plate all over the floor, brought us a replacement plate, and then charged us double? We have the information and ability to change how we pay for health care; we just need to begin implementing the policies to do it, such as informing providers and the public of their performance compared to other providers in their locality and around the country. Payment incentives can also be instituted to improve care by encouraging physicians to coordinate care for patients, thereby eliminating unnecessary procedures and tests. Efforts such as these will improve quality and reduce costs. We can respond appropriately to the health care crisis that faces millions of families by focusing on providing coverage for everyone, ensuring prevention becomes part of your health care plan, and reforming inefficiencies in the system at the same time we address the future economic security of this country.

Finally, the GOP feels that with federal deficits spiraling out of control, their legislation is paid for by requiring a 1 percent annual step-down in discretionary spending, plus other efficiencies. The GOP tell Americans that providing access to quality, affordable health care should be a priority in our nation’s budget, not just one more thing added to the deficit. As Rep. Pence said, “While the president will no doubt continue to put up straw men whom he can finger as promoting the status quo, it is important to appreciate that real, positive reform will take place only if we can have an honest dialogue. The Republican Study Committee has offered a solution that American patients can support. We only hope the president will drop the false choices and pick up some of our common-sense ideas.” Therefore the GOP has ideas and a plan just like Democrats but it is when both sides get together to share their ideas and plans that finally in this nation we can perhaps come up with the best solution to healthcare reform.

However no matter what the Republican and Democrats in both houses of Congress do, I will not support healthcare reform unless it has CPR-- Coverage, Prevention, Reform but also make sure that CPR includes health insurance stability, affordability, quality, and patient choice. If these things are covered than I can support a GOP or Democratic but if not I am not supporting any legislation. However the debate over the GOP doesn’t have a plan is false. In fact the GOP plan or ideas are similar to many Democrats ideas but the national media and many people are just not seeking their plan and ideas out. So here is the truth and let’s hope both the GOP and the Democratic Party can get together to create the most cost efficient and quality healthcare reform bill that our nation can come up with.