House Republicans unveiled their health reform proposal Tuesday night.
Their alternative health care bill "would reward states for reducing the number of uninsured, limit damages in medical malpractice lawsuits and allow small businesses to band together and buy insurance exempt from most state regulation," The New York Times reports. "In its opening section, the Republican bill, which has no chance of passing, promises to lower health care costs and expand insurance coverage 'without raising taxes, cutting Medicare benefits for seniors, adding to the national deficit, intervening in the doctor-patient relationship or instituting a government takeover of health care.'"
Unlike the Democratic bill, the Republican version "would not require people to obtain insurance or require employers to offer it. ... It would not expand Medicaid or offer federal subsidies to low- and middle-income people to help them buy insurance." The proposal also "would not explicitly prohibit insurers from denying coverage to people because of pre-existing medical conditions, even though many Republicans have said they agree with Democrats that the federal government should outlaw such denials" (Pear and Herszenhorn, 11/3).