Monday
February 8, 2010
The battle rages over healthcare reform
On Saturday, Oct. 31, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH-8) gave a press release stating, “Only Republicans have offered solutions to lower health care costs and make it easier to obtain quality, affordable coverage without imposing a massive burden on the American people.”
This statement was given after President Obama urged his opponents to grab a mop, and to help clean up, which is the same press release in which the President issued his frustration for those who “sit on the sidelines, and vote for failure.”
There is no doubt that this contentious rhetoric will not leave until a vote has been passed. But what are the solutions that Republicans claim to offer, and what is the mess that the President is attempting to clean up?
According to House Minority Leader, John Boehner, the Republicans have offered plans that allow a personal option over a public option. Under the Republican solutions, government bureaucrats will have less control, which has so far been the Republicans’ biggest priority for healthcare reform.
According to Boehner, Republicans have done this by offering solutions that “let families buy health insurance across state lines. These solutions will allow individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do.”
Boehner also said,
“[These solutions] will give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms, and end junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs.”
However, House Republicans have yet to collectively propose legislation the same way the Democrats have.
On Friday, Oct. 30, House Democrats released H.R. 3962, a new bill that will cost $894 billion over the next 10 years. This bill has been worked on for over six months by the House Democrats, and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, believes that this bill will bring America closer to winning the century-long battle of ensuring a better American civilization.
“Leaders of all political parties, starting over a century ago with President Theodore Roosevelt, have called and fought for healthcare reform and health-insurance reform,” said Pelosi. “Today we are about to deliver on the promise.”
By offering new legislation, the House Democrats have cleared a major hurdle with their proposition of H.R. 3962. However, the House Republicans continue to offer nothing but opposition.
In his Oct. 31, press release, Boehner said, “At the beginning of this year, I told President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Republicans would be ready to work with them whenever possible to address the nation’s biggest challenges. I also said that where there were differences, it was our obligation as a party to explain to the American people how we would do things better.”
So far, the Democrats are not upset with the Republicans offering solutions to do things better, because as President Obama mentioned, they are upset with the Republicans doing nothing at all.
It is true that the Republican Party as a whole has been disconnected from proposing legislation on healthcare, but according to Republican Study Committee Chairman, Tom Price, this is not true for many individual Republican representatives who believe Healthcare reform is necessary.
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