House Republicans really want to avoid a repeat of
this.
Republican health care reform is now back on? These people will
will give you whiplash. But, the Washington Times
reports that House Republicans have decided, for party unity, that they need to work with Mitt Romney to develop a health care plan.
House Republican leaders are quietly working with Mitt Romney’s campaign to fashion a unifiedGOP health care platform to replace President Obama’s health law, according to lawmakers involved in the effort. [...]
“From the policy perspective, we can do all these great things, but if [Mr. Romney‘s] not on the same page with us, then that’s a recipe for political disaster,” Rep. Phil Gingrey, Georgia Republican and a medical doctor who sponsored the medical-malpractice reform the House passed in March, told The Washington Times. “So, clearly, there has to be some coordination on all of that.”
Romney has put
some ideas forward, ideas which are likely to increase the number of uninsured. The basic idea he's suggested is to decouple insurance from employment, and just give tax credits to people to buy insurance, essentially throwing everyone into the largely unregulated individual insurance pool, without the bargaining power of a large employer group behind them. Oh, and slashing Medicare and Medicaid, too.
To be clear, though, this sounds far more like House Republican keeping Romney under control on this issue and not doing anything at all reminiscent of Romenycare. Just like they're setting the agenda for Romney on economic policy, they intend to keep him under control on health care, too. Which is amusing, since they are clearly without a plan.
