Repug health care "reform" proposals: tax benefits and fear mongering

[jefferson_dem]

Option 1 is a dead letter. McCrypt was rightly skewered during the campaign for recommending taxing benefits. Regarding option 2 - I wonder if their proposal would also prevent insurance company stooges from denying full coverage for medical procedures deemed necessary by the doctors and patients.

Republicans Rolling Out Health Care Plans Ahead of Democratic Push
By Alex Wayne, CQ Staff

Congressional Republicans have decided to confront Democratic plans to overhaul the health care system with policy proposals of their own and are developing at least two plans — one by conservatives and one by House moderates.

A group of conservatives, led by Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, will introduce legislation Wednesday. The bill would provide tax credits for people to buy health insurance, paid for by taxing employer-provided health benefits — a plan similar to Republican John McCain ’s proposal during his presidential campaign last year.

The Coburn-Burr bill will be sponsored in the House by Devin Nunes of California and Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, moderate Republicans in the House, led by Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois, are developing legislation that centers on passing a law guaranteeing that the government will never interfere with medical decisions made by doctors and patients. Kirk and other moderates, known as the “Tuesday Group” for their weekly meetings, plan to announce the central piece of their legislation — called the Medical Rights Act — at a news conference Wednesday.

In an interview, Kirk said the moderates’ legislation would also include changes to the private insurance market and medical lawsuits aimed at reducing the cost of insurance, along with an expansion of public health clinics to serve people who are difficult to cover under insurance plans, such as the homeless

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http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003121012