Republicans under the leadership of John Boehner actually submitted a half-decent proposal that according to the CBO will save us 68 billion over 10 years at a cost of 61 billion.  This may appear to be neutral in terms of cost, but the plan heavily leans on HSAs and malpractice reform to drive down costs and ultimately - REDUCE INSURANCE PREMIUMS - something sorely missing from the Democrat plan despite mind boggling costs.  Democrats can still claim that they are covering more uninsured, but this is a smoke screen considering plenty of uninsured are uninsured by choice.  Those that cannot afford insurance will at least see falling premiums and become insured if the prices are affordable.

The problem with our health system is not the number of uninsured, but the crippling cost of current insurance because it is subsidized by government!  If we were to remove the ridiculously stupid employer matches (that most of us "enjoy") and disband the unconstitutional Medicare/Medicaid programs along with significant reduction of the FDA we will see plummeting costs in both insurance and non-generic drugs.  In my examiner articles I have outlined research that estimates the total of Medicare & Medicaid & FDA costs exceed hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and over-consumption of medical needs.

The Republican plan does not address the core problems of our system, but it certainly alleviates three significant issues.

1)  Promotes HSAs.  Health Savings Accounts help by putting the expenses of medical needs onto the consumer and out of the federal government.  Ultimately a flat tax or a repeal of the income tax would make the HSAs obsolete.
2)  Promotes competition.  The ability to buy insurance across state lines should invariably reduce costs.
3)  Reduce costs of medical services.  Malpractice insurance is prohibitively expensive and limiting these liabilities will make us far more competitive world wide.  Did you know Americans are traveling to India, Singapore, etc for extensive surgeries because of reduced costs!?

This is a plan I could support for once, even if it came from the GOP. The Democrat plan is painfully obvious not designed to take care of health reform, but simply transfer billions of dollars to the federal coffers because of mounting defecits. Theft pure and simple.