James Capretta writes at National Review Online that the health care reform plan developed by U.S. House Republicans would end Obamacare excesses and put more health care decisions in consumers’ hands.
The release of the House GOP health-care plan last month was a milestone event in the long-running debate over the future of health care in the United States. Republican leaders had been promising to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act — a.k.a. Obamacare — since it was enacted in 2010. But this is the first time that GOP leaders in Congress have presented a plan that could accurately be described as “the Republican alternative.” If the GOP is in a position in Congress to take up health-care legislation in 2017 (or later), this plan will almost certainly be the starting point.
House Speaker Paul Ryan deserves the credit for making this happen. He announced last fall after taking over the speakership that he wanted the GOP to offer a proactive agenda in order to give voters a clear idea of what Republicans would do if given the opportunity to govern. He followed through on that promise by getting his House colleagues to support plans for top-to-bottom reform of most key responsibilities of the federal government. In addition to the health-care plan, the House GOP released proposals to reform the tax code, improve anti-poverty efforts, cut back on growth-retarding regulations, strengthen national security, and protect the role of Congress under the Constitution.
The Obama administration and its allies in Congress immediately criticized the health-care plan for lacking specifics. But that isn’t true; the plan is plenty specific. It is very clear about what is being proposed for employer-sponsored health care, for people buying coverage on their own, and for Medicare and Medicaid. But it wisely leaves for another day decisions on some details — like the value of the new federal tax credit for health insurance — that would only serve as targets for criticism by the plan’s opponents. Moreover, there is no need at this point to put the plan into legislative form, which would require specifying most details, because there is no possibility of enacting it while President Obama is still in office.
