As Congress readies itself for a new session, the issue of health care is again coming up for discussion. Of course, much is riding on the decision of the United States Supreme Court which will hear appeals from the various lower courts. The High Court is expected to hear arguments over three days in March with a decision expected in the summer.
Republicans are not waiting for the ruling and have signaled an interest in presenting some ideas of their own.
Rep. Joe Pitts, (R-PA), who is the Chairman of the Subcommittee panel on Health for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, gave reporters from various news organizations a preview of coming action.
Rep. Pitts indicated that Republicans would be ready with a “replacement” package no matter how the Supreme Court rules on the health care law.
Repeal of the health care law has been a focus of the GOP since the law was passed in March 2010. Replacement of the plan with something substantive has been a bit trickier. One of the ideas presented by Rep. Pitts this week is to move the sickest, most expensive patients into a new government run program.
This is a curious notion with no clear direction as to who would pay for such a concept. Would such a move be mandatory? Would the sickest patients who currently have their own private health insurance be forced to move to a government plan?
Insurance companies have always abhorred the idea of having too many sick people in a plan without the benefit of healthy individual members whose premiums would offset the cost of the sickliest. Moving all these sick people to one plan and then expecting the government to pay the cost is a curious idea which should surely draw the ire of people who want less government involvement in private lives.
The Republican plan as outlined by Rep Pitts would also remove one of the most popular reforms of the current healthcare law - the requirement that insurance companies cover individuals with pre-existing conditions. That provision might be difficult to walk away from politically. The current law is not so old that people do not remember what it was like to be unable to get health insurance because of a medical condition even if they could afford the premiums.
Putting all those sick people into one gigantic government plan would cost a fortune. According to Rep. Pitts the government would be required to pay for these people, not private insurance companies.
If this is an example of what the GOP has in mind as part of a replacement plan, one can only wonder about the care that will be available to those who need it most.
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