GOP unveils health reform plan

The first comprehensive health reform package to be considered by Congress was introduced today by a group of Republican lawmakers (Source: “Congress' conservatives offer health proposal,” Washington Post/Associated Press, May 19, 2009).

The plan, dubbed the Patient’s Choice Act, calls for taxing health benefits and using the revenue to give tax credits to indivduals to buy their own care. The plan does not include an individual mandate, but does include an auto-enrollment system for hospital emergency departments, motor vehicle departments and elsewhere.

"If the GOP wants any impact they need to put their ideas on the table now or very soon, otherwise they will be marginalized when the debate begins in full next month," said Bill Pierce, a health official in the Bush administration who now helps run a public affairs firm.