Republicans Say They Don’t Want to Fight Over the Health Care Overhaul

Posted in Health Insurance

January 28th, 2010

After Republican Scott Brown’s shocking win of Ted Kennedy’s old Massachusetts seat last week, many have wondered just what will happen with the health care overhaul, but Republican senators insist that they don’t want to fight over it.

Instead, they would like to find a way to make the bill fair for everyone involved. However, despite the Democrats losing their 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority, some think they won’t want to play along.

Republicans Want to Move Forward

In a round of press engagements, various Republicans have talked about their desire to move forward with the health care overhaul in the wake of the Democrats’ decision to stall for several months. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah said on CNN’s Late Edition on Sunday that all of the Republicans want health care reform; however, they want it to be on everyone’s terms, not just the Democrats.

He said this will mean that the overhaul would have to be scrapped and started over.

The Parties Have Many Similar Desires Or Do They?

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky expressed the idea that the two parties had similar desires for the health care overhaul on an appearance of NBC’s Meet the Press. However, many of the ideas don’t follow the Democrats’ ideas. In fact, they haven’t even passed among other Republican Senators.

For instance, Republicans are advocating a bill that would include a medical malpractice cap of $250,000 for “noneconomic damages,” which is another term for pain and suffering. However, every time it tried to pass in Senate between 1995 and 2005, it was denied by its own party.

Another proposal is to sell insurance policies across state lines, which they say would allow people to purchase cheaper insurance. However, it has been argued over the years that state insurance regulators would no longer know who should regulate what.

Also, without a ban on insurers discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, some customers may not have as much covered in their policies.

Democrats May Not Play Along

Some think that Democrats may not want to play along with a bipartisan health care bill when Republicans have made it clear all along that their only interest was in taking down the president by defeating his health care reform.

It’s for this reason that Democrats may continue with their own agenda of stalling until they can figure out a way to pass the bill they have, which might include making some small tweaks to appease a few Republicans.

Unfortunately, while the parties bicker, the nation must wait for answers on our health care fate. All we can do is wait and hope that the final bill will be something the public can live with and afford.