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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 05:52 PM
Original message
Still Waiting For That GOP Alternative
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019681.php

STILL WAITING FOR THAT GOP ALTERNATIVE.... Democratic health care reform proposals have become a little controversial, but if we put the politics aside for a moment, we see that the majority party has -- for good or ill -- grabbed a bull by the horns. The country has been waiting for policymakers to step up on health care for the better part of a century, and Democrats have put together a credible, affordable proposal(s) that expands coverage, offers consumer protections, tackles rising costs, and strengthens Medicare. It's a serious plan that makes hard choices. It's the kind of thing grown-up policymakers do.

I thought about this after seeing Jonathan Cohn's item today on the latest stupidity from the RNC on Medicare.

For all of the Republican talk about helping seniors, they have almost nothing in their policy arsenal that would actually, you know, help seniors. They're not, for example, proposing to fill in the donut hole -- the gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage that means high out-of-pocket costs for seniors with multiple conditions. Nor do they have any ideas for how to improve the program's financial footing -- except, of course, to cut it. Democrats are trying to do both, though you'd never know it from the way the health reform debate is unfolding.


It got me thinking. Cohn's right, the Republicans' policy on Medicare falls somewhere between incoherent and imaginary. But let's go one step further: weren't Republicans actually supposed to come up with a health care plan of their own, rather than just taking pathetic shots at the proposal on the table?

snip//

It's easy to take dishonest shots at the credible bill on the table, but to be taken seriously, Republicans -- who would like to be in the majority in 2011 -- should tell the country how they'd improve the failing system.

Talk is cheap. GOP leaders have said they have a plan, will present a plan, and can prove that their plan is the better way to go. I'm sure Americans would benefit from the opportunity to evaluate two competing approaches to the same crisis, seeing which plan is stronger.

Put-up-or-shut-up time.

-Steve Benen
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 05:58 PM
Response to Original message
1. K&R, they really need to put up...
then it's up to us to choose if we ought to believe them, what with the "Contract With America" b.s. last time around...
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timeforpeace Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 09:18 PM
Response to Reply #1
13. They're under the impression that Obama and the Dems had it covered.
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robdogbucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 06:02 PM
Response to Original message
2. The give away to insurance comapnies
was the only one I heard about, proposed in July:

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/29/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5195904.shtml

What became of that one?

It was essentially a further enhancement of the current system with tax breaks for the industry, etc.

Just re-arranged the deck chairs, etc.



Just my dos centavos

robdogbucky
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ayeshahaqqiqa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 07:30 PM
Response to Original message
3. I wrote my Congressman after his Town Hall
where he didn't quite tell all the truth about the health care bill--and I cited Division, Title, Subtitle, and Section to him--then asked him point blank--When are you, Mr. Boozman, going to introduce your health care bill?

No response so far.
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Catshrink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 07:32 PM
Response to Original message
4. They've got nothing... just like their vaporware budget.
Remember that? The budget they released on April Fool's day that had no numbers? No budget, no healthcare plan. They are the party of No, of Zero, of Hot Air.

They are the Vapor Party: for all the smoke, there's nothing there.
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BuelahWitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 07:39 PM
Response to Original message
5. Here's the GOP Alternative
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Juche Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 07:40 PM
Response to Original message
6. They have no plan
If they do have a plan it will involve tax cuts (probably supply side but also to buy private insurance) and deregulation of the insurance industry. Neither of which will solve anything, it'll just make recissions and pre-existing condition exclusions worse.

But meh. They aren't in charge so who cares.
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subterranean Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 07:48 PM
Response to Original message
7. Let insurance companies compete across state lines
and let the magic of the "free market" sort things out. That's the only idea I've heard from them. Even Richard Nixon's proposals for health care reform are too radical for today's Republicant's.
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Triana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 07:50 PM
Response to Original message
8. GOP alternative: DROP DEAD
I agree with Helen Thomas (I think that's who wrote a piece lately saying this) - that the GOOP only wants Obama to FAIL on healthcare so he will be only a one-term president. THAT is their golden fleece, I think.

They don't give a damn about health care and they don't NEED any plan - the PLAN is simply for Obama and Dems to FAIL on getting decent health care reform done. Period.
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n2doc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 07:53 PM
Response to Original message
9. Plan: "Don't get sick, Don't get old"
And if you do, you had better be rich. Otherwise, die, 'cause that's what Baby Jeesus wants!
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rustydog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 07:54 PM
Response to Original message
10. You aren't paying attention! Their alternative is NO!!!!!
:evilfrown:
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BlueDemKev Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 07:59 PM
Response to Original message
11. The GOP Plan?
Don't Get Sick!

Their philosophy is this:

Health care is a luxury, not a right. Why should people who make over $1 million each year pay higher taxes to cover the cost of YOUR health care? If you can't afford health care if you or your child gets sick, it means you're a poor, lazy good-for-nothing and it would be best if you die anyway.
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zbdent Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 08:36 PM
Response to Original message
12. wait ... I just unearthed the work order ...
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Dappleganger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-28-09 09:36 PM
Response to Original message
14. SLOW IT DOWN YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST!
There's a whole 'nuther century to get it done right, ya know. ;)
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Blue Meany Donating Member (986 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-29-09 01:51 PM
Response to Original message
15. The Republican Plan is what we have now n/t
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