Is it even in legislative language? Maybe the Democrats should simply put it on the floor for an up or down recorded vote, to put Republicans on record on their own bill, with all its details.

Getting sick is one thing, having a work related injury or a life-threatening accident is another.

Providing healthcare isn't just about dealing with "getting sick." It's also about all of the other curve-balls life throws our way.

This is why the GOP's plan is absolutely bogus and cruel. I am incredulous that paid legislators came up with this bizarre plan.

It would appear that this plan is well to the right of the one put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-1st District, Wisconsin) since Ryan's proposal lays out a plan for exchanges with minimum benefits, guaranteed issue regardless of pre existing conditions, and tax credits to help cover the cost.

I didn't expect the Club for Growth to be going after Ryan but....

When do we see the CBO report?

Writing at Firedoglake, Jon Walker points out that the Republican alternative does copy one idea from the Democrats' bill, but it's a very bad one: language from Anna Eschoo that extends monopoly protection fro biologic drugs.

Put it up for a vote ASAP. Make them own it.

If I was Nancy Pelosi, I would call a press conference and not say a word. I would just show them the GOP bill, drop it loudly into an adjacent trash can and leave. Let the presstards figure it out.

Um... we mocked them for weeks for not having a plan, if not months. Now that they finally come up with a (crappy) one, we mock them for not doing it the way the ruling majority would do it?

That's a "Can't win" scenario if I ever heard one.

More of the same -- standard operating procedure for authoritarians, excuse me, Republicans and DINOs sent to Washington as guardians and advocates for the interests of the wealthy and powerful.

The public needs to see these folks for who they are and how they operate. There is no honor here. Elections mean nothing, evidenced by that fact that though they were trounced and are *clearly in the minority, they obstruct the other party's reform efforts and the will of the citizenry, no matter how many lives those changes might save. Can't give the other guys something to run on! At the same time, the social wedge issues and fear mongering peel off just enough of the electorate to keep them in the game. Amazing. Keep shining the light, Steve. We need more light.

Go Grayson!

The missing link to the "plan."

Gawds, I've been disgusted with the Repugnants for many years, but this takes the cake. Their "reform" plan will make the status quo even worse than it is now.

I'm on COBRA ($460/mo, single person), and will lose it at the end of next month. Nothing, either the Dem or Rep plan, will get passed in time to do me any good. I have a "pre-existing condition". When I'm not on a drug hiatus for it, as I am now, my meds run about $1500 a month, if I'm lucky. I now live in a progressive part of a progressive state, so my Rep and Senators are working for me. But I will never vote for a repug or conservative again.

"Will the David Broders of the world call out Republicans for ignoring bipartisan efforts, and producing a proposal, in secret, that no same legislative body would find credible"?

More importantly, Will Obama and Emmanuel take note of republican intransigence and make political hay out of it? They're the ones who should be pinned down and asked if their fetish for bipartisanship remains unaltered.

What happened to "HCR should get 80 votes"?

What's in the plan makes no difference; the press will simply report that the plan exists and that the Democrats are so partisan that they won't sign on to it.

The House Republican health care reform plan was expected to be inadequate, but it was hard to predict it'd be this bad.

No it wasn't.

Given the fact that, until a few days ago, the Republican leaders were either (a) denying that they would actually submit a health care bill, or (b) claiming they already had a health care plan, it's clear that this was a last-minute hodgepodge of whatever ideas were acceptable to GOP lawmakers and the teabag crowd. In other words, nothing of substance.

I just read Boners paper..I am an RN and I have never read something so meaningless and ridiculous. It is a joke which is most of the Republican party right now.

"Um... we mocked them for weeks for not having a plan, if not months. Now that they finally come up with a (crappy) one, we mock them for not doing it the way the ruling majority would do it?

That's a "Can't win" scenario if I ever heard one."

The way to win was not to come up with a bad plan; to come up with something workable that would make peoples' lives better. It's not that it doesn't do things the way the democrats like, it's that it doesn't actually address the problems.

This isn't an actual proposal intended to deal with health-care issues, it's a press release intended to retort claims that Republicans don't have a plan.

The truth is that most people don't need health care most of the time. This is part of what makes a single payer system attractive; if we all chip in a little bit, we get a lot more security for a good deal less money than we otherwise could. At the same time, it is what makes reform difficult. Precisely because most people are not using their health insurance, they don't know how under-insured they are and remain relatively unmotivated when it comes to reforming the system. And this fact also makes the Republican plan, as described by Yglesias, quite marketable to the public at large. Most people will appear to benefit from it, if only because they don't have to use it. This may turn out to be a clever political ploy.

Not to be picky or anything, but in order for your first sentence after the break to make sense, it should read, "The GOP plan does nothing for the UNinsured..." The insured generally don't need anything done for them, unless they're in the unfortunate group who gets denied coverage as soon as they initiate a claim.

I don't mean to address "sense" and "GOP" in the same sentence but, you know, journalistic integrity and all that.

the democrats did not let the republicans even have input on their plan so to say the republican plan is not bipartisan is ironic.

the republican plan attacks cost the real issue