Sound familiar?
“We are approaching a ’perfect storm’ of problems that if not addressed by the next president will cause our health care system to implode[.]"
“Democrat[s] are not telling you these truths. They offer their usual default position: If the government would only pay for insurance everything would be fine. They promise universal coverage, whatever its cost, and the massive tax increases, mandates and government regulation that it imposes . . . I offer a genuinely conservative vision for health care reform, which preserves the most essential value of American lives — freedom.” [...]
[Aides] provided no estimated price tag. To help pay for it, [the plan] would end a provision in the tax code that lets employers deduct the cost of health care from their taxable earnings. Additionally, they said, passing tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and excessive damage awards would help reduce costs.
Ah, yeah, it sounds a little like this:
"[T]he Democrats’ plan for government-run health care is not the change Americans want. Their new government-run program will make health care more expensive, raise taxes, ration care, and empower bureaucrats to make key medical decisions instead of patients and doctors.[...]
“House Republicans have a better plan to reduce costs, expand access, and increase the quality of care in a way that Americans can afford . . . Our proposal allows small businesses to band together and provide insurance for their employees at a lower cost, just as large corporations and unions do. And it roots out waste, fraud, and abuse that costs taxpayers billions, while reining in junk lawsuits that make health care more costly for everyone.
“Unlike the Democrats’ government takeover of health care, this common-sense plan keeps patients and doctors in charge of key medical decisions.
The first quote is candidate John McCain, circa October 2007. The second quote is from the House's "GOP Health Care Solutions Group," circa earlier this month.
The voluminous 4-page health "plan" House Republican recently unveiled echoes the John McCain "plan" advertised on the 2008 campaign trail. Like candidate McCain, Republicans are trotting out the bogeyman of a "government takeover of health care." Like candidate McCain, Republicans want to create "more competition" within the existing, private and broken system. Like candidate McCain, Republicans are for "reform" so incremental and so benign it's like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.
And of course, like candidate McCain, "how much the Republican plan would cost and how many uninsured Americans would gain coverage remains unclear."
A little thing happened since John McCain laid out his health care plan on the campaign trail. It's called an election.
And in that election, Americans chose the candidate who unequivocally stated in October 2008 that "health care should be a right." They chose the candidate who ran explicitly on a public option platform. And they chose to reject John McCain and his faux health reform plan.
Today, 76% of Americans support a public option for all on health care.
So, to all the Democrats who claim that they don't have the "votes" to pass a public option or that they need Republican support to reform health care, this is just a friendly reminder that the American voters have already weighed the John McCain/GOP plan. They rejected it in 2008, and more than 3 out of 4 Americans reject it today.
In other words, to wobbly Democrats wringing their hands over sacrificing real change at the crumbling alter of "bipartisanship," to those who worship politics over principle and to those who act as if their constituents are the Republican minority in Congress whining about "socialism" rather than the American majority from coast to coast wishing for a public option, election have consequences.
John McCain lost. Republicans lost the presidency. Let's not reward their defeat by implementing their rejected plans. Because in that dynamic, the only people who truly lose are the American people who voted for the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, and for his public health insurance plan.