Do Republicans want to kill ALL healthcare reform?

Not just Obama's reform, but ANY form of healthcare at all, whether it comes from the private sector, TORT reform, or something else. I personally don't think so, considering the Republicans have had their own reform bill since may. Despite this, does anyone think that Republicans are against ALL healthcare reform, no matter what?

Can a moderator please make the votes for this poll public? Thanks.

I don't think either side wants actual reform. The Democrats want to change the current system fundamentally which would in no way just be reforming it, and the Republicans largely just want to keep the status quo and just let people buy insurance across state lines (big give away to the insurance industry there), and tort reform (which is needed).

The insurance industry and other big players have flooded Washington with so much money over the years that any real reform is a pipe dream.

Lets examine the Republican Plan, which really isn't a plan as much as its a short collection of slogans.

Basically, they want Tort Reform, tax incentives for people in the individual market, high risk polls for those that have pre-existing conditions to the extent that they are unable to find anyone to insure them, and the ability to purchase insurance across state lines.

Their critiques of the Democratic Plan are that:

It's expensive - So are the Republican individual tax incentives.

The Public Option will result in employers dropping group plans - Funny because that is the stated goal of providing incentives for individual market as their plan would.

The Public Option would result in people losing their private coverage - And their high risk polls would not essentially result in the sick and disabled being in the same situation??

The Public Option will kill Medicare - Uh... Republicans despise Medicare, they have for 40 years now, yet now they are supposed to be its guardians?

The Democrats Plan will result in socialized medicine and ration care and institute "Death Panels" for seniors - As if seniors are not already on the world's largest socialized health insurance program yet no death panels, no rationing of care.

I mean basically, the Democrats have a flawed plan, and the Republicans are a joke.

This country is ungovernable anymore. The right wing has watered the tree of crazy over the years to the point that the nut jobs are just coming out of the woodwork. If anything meaningful is ever going to done about health care its probably going to be accomplished at the state and local levels of government. The best thing the Federal Government could do at this point is just leave it to the markets.

SouthernDemocrat said:

The Public Option will kill Medicare - Uh... Republicans despise Medicare, they have for 40 years now, yet now they are supposed to be its guardians?

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IMO Medicare is far more perferable over the current proposed HC bill.

Lakryte said:

Not just Obama's reform, but ANY form of healthcare at all, whether it comes from the private sector, TORT reform, or something else. I personally don't think so, considering the Republicans have had their own reform bill since may. Despite this, does anyone think that Republicans are against ALL healthcare reform, no matter what?

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I say no. Reform does not have to be in the form of socialized medicine. It can be tort reform, letting people buy insurance across state lines(as others have pointed out), find ways to reduce medical school tuition and other methods to reduce health care cost so that it can be cheaper.

jamesrage said:

I say no. Reform does not have to be in the form of socialized medicine. It can be tort reform, letting people buy insurance across state lines(as others have pointed out), find ways to reduce medical school tuition and other methods to reduce health care cost so that it can be cheaper.

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How would allowing to buy insurance across state lines help unless each state has the same regulations over the insurance companies.

I say yes, any real reform anyways. Just more of the status quo and more money finding its way to the insurance giants and pharmaceutical companies, wrapped-up in patriotic rhetoric with a nice bow.

NO, we want to kill bad healthcare reform, mainly the public option.

Re: Do Republicans want to kill ALL health care reform?

SouthernDemocrat said:

I don't think either side wants actual reform. The Democrats want to change the current system fundamentally which would in no way just be reforming it, and the Republicans largely just want to keep the status quo and just let people buy insurance across state lines (big give away to the insurance industry there), and tort reform (which is needed). Absolutely !![COLOR]

The insurance industry and other big players have flooded Washington with so much money over the years that any real reform is a pipe dream.

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Essentially, we are saying that election/campaign reform must precede any health care and HC insurance reform... this makes sense.

I would also point out that the Republicans held power in Washington from 2001 - 2006 and the White House through 2008. During that time their only foray into health care reform was a huge give away to big pharma with the Medicare Drug Benefit (Medicare Part D), a bill they quite literally let K-Street write and even give them their debate talking points on. If they care so much about health care reform, why did they make no real attempts at it when they held power? The last Republican that tried to actually address health care reform was Richard Nixon.

SouthernDemocrat said:

I would also point out that the Republicans held power in Washington from 2001 - 2006 and the White House through 2008. During that time their only foray into health care reform was a huge give away to big pharma with the Medicare Drug Benefit (Medicare Part D), a bill they quite literally let K-Street write and even give them their debate talking points on. If they care so much about health care reform, why did they make no real attempts at it when they held power? The last Republican that tried to actually address health care reform was Richard Nixon.

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And how often have Democrats been in control between now and Nixon?

Kal'Stang said:

And how often have Democrats been in control between now and Nixon?

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Well, they had control for a short time during the Carter years, and then they had control for a time during the early Clinton years. In the early Clinton years they tried to reform health care and failed.

Republicans do not have the power to block anything right now. Fact is that Democrats are opposing this reform option because it is that bad of an idea.

We need reform, but we need actual reform, not a worthless bill that does not change much of anything.

I'm all for healthcare reform, but it has to address the core problems we have with healthcare and nothing Obama has talked about even examines the reasons that healthcare is so expensive now. Piling government intervention on top of the already-existing problems isn't going to solve those problems, in fact it will likely make them even worse and healthcare costs will go up even higher.

Lakryte said:

Not just Obama's reform, but ANY form of healthcare at all, whether it comes from the private sector, TORT reform, or something else. I personally don't think so, considering the Republicans have had their own reform bill since may. Despite this, does anyone think that Republicans are against ALL healthcare reform, no matter what?

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I would like to reform it to what it was in the 1950's, when health care was affordable BECAUSE there was very little government involvement.

Both sides in Washington want change. This is beyond debate

SouthernDemocrat said:

I don't think either side wants actual reform. The Democrats want to change the current system fundamentally which would in no way just be reforming it, and the Republicans largely just want to keep the status quo and just let people buy insurance across state lines (big give away to the insurance industry there), and tort reform (which is needed).

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I would go much futher, but allowing people to buy across state lines would end the dominance of one or two insurers in most states. I'd say that it doesn't go far enough, but it would certainly help quite a lot

SouthernDemocrat said:

The insurance industry and other big players have flooded Washington with so much money over the years that any real reform is a pipe dream.

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No disagreement here

It is a fact that many GOP representatives support reform in ways other than introducing a public option (ie. TORT reform).

(If you cant tell from my post, i chose NO)

Addition: I just wanted to add something that may be irrelevant; Why am I seeing so many polls that ask questions that are already answered with facts? Are we really so thick that we now look for answers to rhetorical questions?

MikeVFF said:

It is a fact that many GOP representatives support reform in ways other than introducing a public option (ie. TORT reform).

(If you cant tell from my post, i chose NO)

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The GOP supports their "reform" and not much else.

repeter said:

The GOP supports their "reform" and not much else.

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I'm sorry, they should be more open minded, like the liberals. How dare they stand by what they think is right for the country. :roll:

MikeVFF said:

It is a fact that many GOP representatives support reform in ways other than introducing a public option (ie. TORT reform).

(If you cant tell from my post, i chose NO)

Addition: I just wanted to add something that may be irrelevant; Why am I seeing so many polls that ask questions that are already answered with facts? Are we really so thick that we now look for answers to rhetorical questions?

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Tort reform, while I agree should be part of the healthcare bill, amounts to less than 1% of the costs of healthcare. You can reform it all day long and it isn't going to amount to much of anything on its own.
If THAT is the GOP's answer, that explains why they have become such an insignificant party these days.

I think their other grand idea was "Try to reduce the costs of medical school". :doh

MikeVFF said:

I'm sorry, they should be more open minded, like the liberals. How dare they stand by what they think is right for the country. :roll:

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Perhaps you misunderstood me. I did not mean that they do what's right by them, but that they simply keep things at status quo. And at present, the status quo is not favorable for the country as a whole.

repeter said:

Perhaps you misunderstood me. I did not mean that they do what's right by them, but that they simply keep things at status quo. And at present, the status quo is not favorable for the country as a whole.

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This is because they currently have no power to change anything. And keeping things the way they are is a MUCH BETTER option then diving into a flawed bill.

disneydude said:

Tort reform, while I agree should be part of the healthcare bill, amounts to less than 1% of the costs of healthcare. You can reform it all day long and it isn't going to amount to much of anything on its own.

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While I (and i'm assuming almost none of you) am not an expert on the matter, if Tort reform was done years ago, healthcare costs wouldnt be where they are now. While some are justified, there are many outrageous lawsuits that have resulted in inflation of heath care. It may be too late to prevent the current inflation due to these suits, it must be stopped. TORT reform MUST HAPPEN.

If THAT is the GOP's answer, that explains why they have become such an insignificant party these days.

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Thats definitely the cause, there are no other factors :roll:

I think their other grand idea was "Try to reduce the costs of medical school". :doh

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Yeah what a terrible idea. God forbid those with less money get the opportunity to become doctors, even if they have the potential to contribute to the medical field. More doctors definitely wouldn't help health insurance drop. [/SARCASM]

MikeVFF said:

This is because they currently have no power to change anything. And keeping things the way they are is a MUCH BETTER option then diving into a flawed bill.



While I (and i'm assuming almost none of you) am not an expert on the matter, if Tort reform was done years ago, healthcare costs wouldnt be where they are now. While some are justified, there are many outrageous lawsuits that have resulted in inflation of heath care. It may be too late to prevent the current inflation due to these suits, it must be stopped. TORT reform MUST HAPPEN.



Thats definitely the cause, there are no other factors :roll:



Yeah what a terrible idea. God forbid those with less money get the opportunity to become doctors, even if they have the potential to contribute to the medical field. More doctors definitely wouldn't help health insurance drop. [/SARCASM]

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Tort reform greatly reducing the costs of healthcare is a myth. The costs of lawsuits amounts to less than 1% of all costs involved in healthcare.
While I agree that it should be a part of any package, it is not going to greatly reduce the costs of healthcare.....which is also what I was inferring in reducing the costs of medical school.
Of course, everyone would love to reduce the costs for medical students, but if you think that this is going to account for much more that a drop in a bucket for reducing the costs of healthcare, you are sadly mistaken.

What is driving up the high costs of healthcare are the billions that are paid out to corporate CEO's of insurance companies and drug companies.
You are not going to do anything to reduce the costs of healthcare until you address those two issues.