RNC Women

The White House will convene a “bipartisan summit” on health care tomorrow with Republican leaders and Congressional Democrats.  Unfortunately, this summit will be held on the Democrats’ playing field and will be conducted under their terms. 

Instead of starting from the beginning with Republican cooperation, President Obama decided to double down on the previous failed health care bills.  His proposal released this week was, according to the Wall Street journal, “based on what the Senate passed in December, adding more spending, more subsidies and a revised mix of taxes.”

We can do better than that.  Just because the White House and Congressional Democrats won’t consider Republican ideas on the floor of the House and Senate or at this upcoming summit does not mean the ideas don’t exist.  In fact, Republicans have advocated for a better way from the very beginning. 

Almost three years ago, Senator Mike Enzi, the ranking member of the Senate Health Committee, began his push for 10 steps to improve health care.   Republicans knew then what is clear today – that the way to reform health care is with a common sense, piece by piece approach. 

For months, Republicans in the House have urged people, including White House advisors and the President himself, to look at the plan posted on their website.  The House Republican plan calls for allowing Americans to buy health insurance across state lines and would put an end to junk lawsuits that cost billions every year in defensive medicine.  The GOP proposal would reward innovation in the states and promote healthier lifestyles.  Best of all, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the GOP plan would lower premiums, would not raise a single dime in new taxes and would reduce the deficit by $68 billion over the next ten years. 

These Republican proposals deserve to be on the table at tomorrow’s summit.  If they are not, and Democrats insist on sticking with their tax-and-spend takeover, this summit will be exposed for what most of us know that it is – an infomercial for President Obama and Congressional Democrats.  The American people deserve better than that.  They deserve health care reform that makes sense, and the Republican ideas deserve to be heard.