Dana Milbank, a columnist for the Washington Post, says that Republicans have a Deaf Ear when it comes to supporting any type of health care reform.
Noting that Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) during the Senate Finance Committee meeting early on stated that he didn’t “support a government takeover of the health-care system” — and then promptly fell asleep, Milbank wrote:
Bunning's nap was a fitting comment on how he and his Republican colleagues had received the efforts of the committee's chairman, Max Baucus (D-Mont.), to craft a bipartisan compromise on the mammoth legislation. Baucus made major concessions to Republicans: He dropped the "public option" for a government-run health plan; he tossed aside the mandate that employers provide health coverage; he cut the bill's cost and made sure it was all funded by revenue from within the health-care system; he stipulated that government funds would not go for abortion or to illegal immigrants; and he included efforts to curtail medical malpractice awards.
And what does Baucus have to show for his concessions? One by one Tuesday, Republicans delivered the same thanks-but-no-thanks message.
What Milbank points out is that no amount of concessions are enough for most Republicans (our own Maine Senator Olympia Snowe may be the exception).
And yet everyone that pays for health insurance — and certainly all employers who provide health insurance — know that the cost of insurance has climbed higher and higher each year with no end in sight.
In my case, for example, I’m lucky to be covered by my wife’s health insurance. But as a solo practitioner, I pay for a portion of the health insurance I provide for my full time secretary. in 2003, the cost of her insurance was about $1000 per year. It now costs around $3400. Other than routine matters, my secretary has never had any major claim against her policy — yet the cost has skyrocketed.
As a business person, I’m very interested in finding ways to make health care more affordable. All I hear from Republicans is no, no, no.
Tell me GOP members, what are your alternatives? Instead of just saying no and running cutsy commercials that end with “let’s reform health care the right way” — what are your concrete proposals?
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