House Republicans are finding that less is more when it comes to talking about their own proposals for reforming the health care system.
In June, House Republican leaders issued a four-page outline that included broad proposals but lacked details on how much it would cost, whom the plan would cover and how they would pay for it.
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) promised they would have a bill and provide details later. Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) also promised that legislation would be forthcoming.
But nearly two months later, Republicans have apparently decided that keeping their bill under wraps is better politically than releasing details that would give Democrats room for a counterattack.
And so far, the hide-the-ball strategy appears to be working.
With poll ratings for the Democratic plan falling under constant GOP assault and risks inherent in presenting any proposal, Republican leaders have described their own prescription only in broad terms.
There won’t be a big new federal health care bureaucracy. There won’t be a new public insurance option to compete against private insurance plans. Individuals won’t have to buy insurance, and employers won’t have to provide it, although new tax credits would be included.
Rather than laying out details of its own bill, the GOP stepped up its attacks on the House Democrats’ 1,000-page bill, calling it a “government takeover” that would put Washington, D.C., bureaucrats in charge of health care.
Democrats, of course, have attacked Republicans repeatedly for failing to offer a bill of their own.
To combat those charges, Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) sent an e-mail this week urging whip team members to point out that several House Republicans have introduced bills. Cantor also tells whip members to cite the reform ideas presented by the Health Care Solutions Group led by Blunt.
“Many Republicans have their own solutions for needed health care reform in America,” said one bullet point in the e-mail. “While the White House still does not have legislative text, many Republicans do.”
Republicans like Reps. Paul Ryan (Wis.) and John Shadegg (Ariz.) are among the Members who have offered alternatives, although they haven’t been embraced by leadership and have controversial items in them. Ryan’s plan, for instance, would tax employer health plans and charge wealthier seniors higher premiums for their prescription drug coverage.
Ironically, Boehner praised the White House as smart last week for not having proposed an official administration bill: “Then everybody can go through every dot and [tittle] in it and pick out every little thing,” Boehner said.
Part of the problem is that Republicans disagree among themselves over what to do.
Some back taxes on high-cost health plans. Others vehemently oppose raising any taxes. Some Republicans have called previously for significant savings within Medicare and Medicaid; others have derided the $550 billion in cuts proposed by Democrats as hurting seniors.
But without new taxes, or big savings from Medicare and Medicaid, or new mandates on employers or individuals to buy insurance, it’s hard to pay for a plan and harder still to make a big dent in the nearly 50 million uninsured Americans.
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, said recently that the GOP bill had been sent to the Congressional Budget Office weeks ago but that they are still waiting on a score, which would detail what the plan would cost. His spokesman said Wednesday that they still haven’t gotten a score back.
Rep. Bill Cassidy has his blood drawn by Alesha Barbour during a free hepatitis screening in the Rayburn House Office Building hosted by the Congressional Viral Hepatitis Caucus to recognize "National Viral Hepatitis Testing Day."
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