Republicans Propose Alternative to Obamacare

Three Republican Congressmen—Senator Orrin Hatch, chair of the Finance Committee; Representative Fred Upton, chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee; and Senator Richard Burr, member of the Finance and Health committees—have proposed an alternative to the Affordable Care Act.

At this point, anyone who isn't proposing an alternative that's "universal socialized healthcare" needs to STFU.

And, naturally, they are not proposing universal socialized healthcare.

The plan, drafted with encouragement from Republican leaders in the Senate and the House, would retain some consumer protections in the Affordable Care Act, but would reduce federal regulation of insurance policies. States would have more authority to specify the "essential health benefits" that must be provided by insurance. As an example, the federal government would no longer require insurance policies to include coverage for maternity care.

Well, this plan sounds terrific already! Of course maternity care would not be considered essential healthcare by the party that wants to deny women and others any and all control over not being pregnant. Tell us more about this excellent plan!

Their plan includes a potentially explosive proposal: Workers would have to pay federal income tax on the value of employer-provided health benefits that exceed certain annual thresholds — $12,000 for individuals and $30,000 for families. Health benefits above those levels would be treated and taxed as regular income for the employee. The thresholds would increase over time.

...Republicans said their plan did not include a federal exchange, but would allow states to run such marketplaces if they wanted to.

If they wanted to. Which most Republican-run states don't! So obviously this proposal will be perfect for all the unemployed people who live in states which don't "want to" run a marketplace.

In sum: This proposal is garbage. I know we're all shocked.