Quick Note: The GOP Has a Better Idea (Stop Me If You've Heard This Before)

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010.  On March 24, Congressional Republicans began trying to dismantle it, promising they would be presenting a newer, better plan very soon.  

I have always wanted to ask the GOP, "Wouldn't it have been a more economical use of your time to have suggested your better plan while the original ACA was being put together?"  I mean, they were in the building after all.

It has now been nearly five years and we have heard the GOP plan was "being developed in committee," that it was "nearing completion," that they had a "few more details" to work out, and that a a vote would happen "in the near future."  Announcing is a GOP specialty.  Actually following through has proven to be a bit more elusive.

In November 2012, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told ABC news that with President Obama's re-election, it was clear the people had decided that "Obamacare is the law of the land."  Then he promptly called for a vote to repeal the law.  That effort continues today with vote number 54 (or 56, depending on who is counting) happening just this week.

In January 2014, GOP leadership in Washington told the media that they were beginning meetings to discuss the possibility of an alternative. I guess the "few more details/near future" plan was off the books by then.

It is now February 2015, and the wait is finally over!  Senators Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) along with Representative Fred Upton (R-Michigan) have unveiled their "Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act."

Well, sort of.  They have a snappy(?) title, but, as of Wednesday, nothing has actually been written into legislative language; however, these three legislators were happy to boast about some aspects of their Republican healthcare improvement plan.

• The "Obamacare" expansion of Medicaid will be eliminated. (The country's poor will be returned to their pre-2010, no-healthcare-for-you status.)
• Tax subsidies to help Americans purchase a healthcare plan will be scaled back. (The middle class may or may not still be required to purchase healthcare, but they'll have to do that on their own--maybe by instituting No-Meal-Mondays for themselves and their families.)
• Federal regulations outlining "essential benefits" will be reduced, most noticeably in the area of women's health care where insurers will no longer be required to offer maternity care. (Should this go under the "Vote for Us Because We Love Women" column or the "War on Women" column?  You choose.)

These legislators, (and other Republicans before them), have called maternity care "non-essential" because, in their words, having children "is a choice."  At the same time, they continue fighting to eliminate a woman's power to do the actual choosing by strictly limiting access to birth control and banning abortion.   

Knowing the GOP's track record for talking big but doing nothing, it is doubtful there will be anything to actually vote on for some time to come; but the Washington Post reported that "health policy aides for Burr, Hatch and Upton said this plan could be the basis for the party's long-term vision for health reform."

Lord, help us.