McCain Economist: GOP Will Lose Without Alternative Health Care Bill

The McCain campaign's senior economist said on Monday that the Republican Party will lose the health care debate unless it presents one, comprehensive alternative plan to compare with Democratic-led effort.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was the main spokesperson on health care matters for the Arizona Republican during the 2008 presidential election, applauded individual Republicans for putting forth "good policies" that would promote individual markets for coverage. He even noted that there is a political benefit to simply opposing Democratic legislation.

But, he added, "I do think that it is beneficial for Republicans as a whole to have a consensus alternative... Collectively we lose if we don't provide an alternative."

Holtz-Eakin's comments came during a telephone briefing with reporters on Monday, just one day after House Minority Leader John Boehner pledged that the Republican Party would produce an actual piece of legislation that would be scored by the Congressional Budget Office.

"I'm glad to see this happening and I'm looking forward to the particulars when they come out," said Holtz-Eakin, who noted that he had discussed reform with Republicans in both the House and the Senate.

It has been more than 135 days since House Republicans had promised to provide a health care alternative.

The one-time McCain economist was thrust back into the throes of the health care debate earlier on Monday morning after the Washington Post published a piece revealing that he himself is running out of extensions on his employer-based health insurance and, because of a pre-existing condition, faces the possibility of exorbitant costs for an individual plan.

Nevertheless, Holtz-Eakin stressed that the GOP should continue its commitment to reform based more around individual markets than simply an expansion or restructuring of the employer-based system. "A correct statement of what we proposed in the campaign is that we wanted... to provide individuals the same subsidy for private insurance [as] those who got it from their employers," he said. "No one argued that simply giving someone a tax credit was enough."

Comments

[miriamfl]

What is really sad is that this man will never experience cancelation or have to pay a ton of money for insurance, because as soon as the rethugs hear about this he will have a full time job with excellent coverage, a luxury the rest of us don't have.

I will make a bet that this man will have coverage and a great job within a few days.

[nooel]

Do any of you people even know about Wyden-Bennett (bi-partisan) or Paul Ryan's republican health bill? Only the lies on Fox must cover those. Its so sad to see so many politically engaged people with such a fraction of the total information out there. Yeah you can say "well, why would I want to read a GOP bill?" but my answer is so you're intellectually honest. There's nothing inherently bad in those bills by being written by GOP members. Get out of your bubbles....

[WhatHaveWeBecome]

Practicing a shole lot of censorship today- How not so progressive.

[WhatHaveWeBecome]

test

[uvymopka]

A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year.
A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons a year.
So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year. They claim 700,000 vehicles so that's 224 million gallons saved per year.
That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.
5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption.
More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars.
So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.
We spent $8.57 for every dollar saved.

I'm pretty sure they will do a great job with health care though...

[Julia Bailey]

Since when was the cash for clunkers program about saving gas?

[Horus45]

That's just ONE year!

[Laws456]

Now the repubs want to change the rules in 9th inning. They've had more than enough time to present a plan, and now that the Dems are on the final leg of the race, they want to extend the course. I can't believe how many people actually fall for this crap. The repubs had every chance to help with the crafting of the bill, but they chose to play to the crowd and just talk about how Socialist this plan is, and how expensive it will be. No matter what course of action was taken, the plan was going to cost money. The Dems even upset lots of people in their own base by not doing enough. They actually tried to find ways to pay for the bill, unlike another party who didn't care how two wars were funded or their medicare plan a few years ago.

Without struggle, there is no progress.

[Haditup2here]

I wonder if he was the genius who came up with the idea of taxing people on their health benefits for McCains campaign.

[pj-smith]

BOO-FRICKIN_HOO

[onedivasinger]

Welcome to our world Dougie.

[gobarackgo]

I'm sure he can rely on charity and the kindness of strangers should a health issue arise.

As I recall, that what Eric Cantor's suggestion:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/020070.php

[miriamfl]

And unfortunately, I am sure that this clown will have a great job with benefits by the end of the week.

[mom792]

Good that he's facing what so many of us have...losing the insurance after long, high COBRA payments. Welcome to no being qualified for a car loan, much less a mortgage. Shunting aside visits with loved family in other parts of the country. And don't forget the thousands for college for the kids, it's not there. Even the application fees mean less food on the table. Wake up folks! we're hurting out here.

[keepyourheaddown*]

live by the sword, die by the sword...

[maxfax]

When will people realize that the GOP has no interest in the common man, real Americans who struggle day in and day out? The GOP is only interested in corporations and their billions they spend lobbying Congress for what benefits corporations and is destroying middle America.

[Guitanguran]

When are you going to realize that a "D" besides someone's name in Washington DC will provide you no better a solution?

[FightingTheRight]

You say "no better solution" as if the Republi-cons had a solution to offer.

Republi-cons controlled Congress for 12 years, with a Republi-con President for 6 of those 12 years, we've seen what they have to offer, as far as health insurance reform goes.

[Imzadi]

Karma, baby.

[Formeralaskangal]

Time to cobble together a faux plan that looks good to the poor saps to believe the GOP cares about them when in reality it does nothing for the poor, but somehow manages to make insurance companies more wealthy.

[BlackbirdHighway]

But that would be stealing the Democrats plan!