The Party of Yes: Health Care and the GOP

“Party of No”. That’s what the Dems call the GOP. According to them, the Republicans say “no” to every initiative President Obama brings to the table, while offering no alternatives of their own. The Democrats even have a web site about it (http://www.democrats.org/page/content/partyofno).

Well, on health care the Republican Party does offer an alternative. The House Republican Health Care Solutions Group’s plan can be found at (http://blunt.house.gov/Read.aspx?ID=1140). Two provisions form the centerpiece of the plan:

1. “Brings greater fairness to the tax code by extending tax savings to those who currently do not have employer-provided insurance but purchase health insurance on their own. This provision would provide an ‘above the line’ deduction that is equal to the cost of an individual’s or family’s insurance premiums.”

2. “Implements comprehensive medical liability reform that will reduce costly, unnecessary defensive medicine practiced by doctors trying to protect themselves from overzealous trial lawyers.”

Whether these provisions are any good will be the subject of future entries. In the meantime, they suffice to refute the “Party of No” epithet. The only thing I can’t figure out now is why the GOP is not more vocal about it.