GOP introduces their own health care bill---with other stuff in it too

[MadImmortalMan]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808904575025080017959478.html

A GOP Road Map for America's Future



By PAUL D. RYAN

In tonight's State of the Union address, President Obama will declare a new found commitment to "fiscal responsibility" to cover the huge spending and debt he and congressional Democrats have run up in his first year in office. But next Monday, when he submits his actual budget, I fear it will rely on gimmickry, commissions, luke-warm spending "freezes," and paper-tiger controls to create the illusion of budget discipline. Meanwhile, he and the Democratic congressional leadership will continue pursuing a relentless expansion of government and a new culture of dependency.

America needs an alternative. For that reason, I have reintroduced my plan to tackle our nation's most pressing domestic challenges—updated to reflect the dramatic decline in our economic and fiscal condition. The plan, called A Road Map for America's Future and first introduced in 2008, is a comprehensive proposal to ensure health and retirement security for all Americans, to lift the debt burdens that are mounting every day because of Washington's reckless spending, and to promote jobs and competitiveness in the 21st century global economy.

The difference between the Road Map and the Democrats' approach could not be more clear. From the enactment of a $1 trillion "stimulus" last February to the current pass-at-all costs government takeover of health care, the Democratic leadership has followed a "progressive" strategy that will take us closer to a tipping point past which most Americans receive more in government benefits than they pay in taxes—a European-style welfare state where double-digit unemployment becomes a way of life.

Americans don't have to settle for this path of decline. There's still time to choose a different future. That is what the Road Map offers. It is based on a fundamentally different vision from the one now prevailing in Washington. It focuses the government on its proper role. It restrains government spending, and hence limits the size of government itself. It rejuvenates the vibrant market economy that made America the envy of the world. And it restores an American character rooted in individual initiative, entrepreneurship and opportunity.

http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/

Here are the principal elements:

• Health Care. The plan ensures universal access to affordable health insurance by restructuring the tax code, allowing all Americans to secure an affordable health plan that best suits their needs, and shifting the control and ownership of health coverage away from the government and employers to individuals.

It provides a refundable tax credit—$2,300 for individuals and $5,700 for families—to purchase coverage (from another state if they so choose) and keep it with them if they move or change jobs. It establishes transparency in health-care price and quality data, so this critical information is readily available before someone needs health services.

State-based high risk pools will make affordable care available to those with pre-existing conditions. In addition to the tax credit, Medicaid will provide supplemental payments to low-income recipients so they too can obtain the health coverage of their choice and no longer be consigned to the stigmatized, sclerotic care that Medicaid has come to represent.

• Medicare. The Road Map secures Medicare for current beneficiaries, while making common-sense reforms to save this critical program. It preserves the existing Medicare program for Americans currently 55 or older so they can receive the benefits they planned for throughout their working lives.

For those under 55—as they become Medicare-eligible—it creates a Medicare payment, initially averaging $11,000, to be used to purchase a Medicare certified plan. The payment is adjusted to reflect medical inflation, and pegged to income, with low-income individuals receiving greater support. The plan also provides risk adjustment, so those with greater medical needs receive a higher payment.

The proposal also fully funds Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) for low-income beneficiaries, while continuing to allow all beneficiaries, regardless of income, to set up tax-free MSAs. Enacted together, these reforms will help keep Medicare solvent for generations to come.

• Social Security. The Road Map preserves the existing Social Security program for those 55 or older. For those under 55, the plan offers the option of investing over one-third of their current Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts, similar to the Thrift Savings Plan available to federal employees. This proposal includes a property right, so those who own these accounts can pass on the assets to their heirs. The plan also guarantees that individuals will not lose a dollar they contribute to their accounts, even after inflation.

The plan also makes the program permanently solvent by combining a modest adjustment in the growth of initial Social Security's benefits for higher-income individuals, with a gradual, modest increase in the retirement age.

• Tax Reform. The Road Map offers an alternative to today's needlessly complex and unfair tax code, providing the option of a simplified system that promotes work, saving and investment.

This highly simplified code fits on a postcard. It has just two rates: 10% on income up to $100,000 for joint filers and $50,000 for single filers, and 25% on taxable income above these amounts. It also includes a generous standard deduction and personal exemption (totaling $39,000 for a family of four), and no tax loopholes, deductions, credits or exclusions (except the health-care tax credit).

The proposal eliminates the alternative minimum tax. It promotes saving by eliminating taxes on interest, capital gains, and dividends. It eliminates the death tax. It replaces the corporate income tax—currently the second highest in the industrialized world—with a business consumption tax of 8.5%. This new rate is roughly half the average in the industrialized world and will put American companies and workers in a stronger position to compete in a global economy.

Even without the Democratic spending spree, our fiscal outlook is deteriorating. They are only hastening the crisis. It is not too late to take control of our fiscal and economic future. But the longer we wait, the bigger the problem becomes and the more difficult our options for solving it.

The Road Map promotes our national prosperity by limiting government's burden of spending, mandates and regulation. It ensures the opportunity for individuals to fulfill their human potential and enjoy the satisfaction of their own achievements—and it secures the distinctly American legacy of leaving the next generation better off.

Mr. Ryan, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, is the ranking member of the Budget Committee.

Obviously, they can't be expecting this to be taken up by Congress. It's an election platform for 2010. Maybe they think this will be the new Contract with America. It doesn't look as clear-cut as that was though. I tried to find how they plan to cover the uninsured. It looks like they are going to just give everyone a couple grand to buy insurance with. Plus this:

- Debit Card Amounts. In addition to the tax credit, the additional support available to eligible families is as follows: $5,000 for families with incomes not exceeding 100 percent of the poverty level; $4,000 for families with incomes between 100 percent and 120 percent of the poverty level; $3,500 for families with incomes between 120 percent and 140 percent of the poverty level; $3,000 for families with incomes between 140 percent and 160 percent of the poverty level; $2,500 for families with incomes between 160 percent and 180 percent of the poverty level; and $2,000 for families with incomes between 180 percent and 200 percent of the poverty level. An additional $1,000 is made available for each family in which there is a pregnancy during a 12-month period, and an additional $500 is made available for each family member under the age of 1. Beneficiaries are allowed to roll over up to one quarter of unexpended debit card amounts at the end of each 12-month period.

[DontSayBanana]

Obviously, they can't be expecting this to be taken up by Congress. It's an election platform for 2010. Maybe they think this will be the new Contract with America. It doesn't look as clear-cut as that was though. I tried to find how they plan to cover the uninsured. It looks like they are going to just give everyone a couple grand to buy insurance with. Plus this:

Which is the idiocy behind why the federal government has to step in in the first place.  The Bush Admin pretty thoroughly proved that if you throw money at the masses, they don't do with it what they were supposed to do with it.  Any underinsured/uninsured who've been scraping by with charity-care-like programs most likely think they can continue to squeak by without proper insurance and spiral things downward by continuing to drive up healthcare expenses.

[Iormlund]

So where's all the money going to come from if they slash taxes like that?

[DGuller]

So where's all the money going to come from if they slash taxes like that?

Cutting waste and reckless spending.

[Iormlund]

I hear there's a lot of that going on in Paris, France. Something to do with fruit flies.

[Queequeg]

So where's all the money going to come from if they slash taxes like that?

Cutting waste and reckless spending.

[Neil]

So where's all the money going to come from if they slash taxes like that?

Cutting waste and reckless spending.

The USAF budget is about 145 billion.

[DontSayBanana]

The USAF budget is about 145 billion.

But... but... if the Chair Force was underfunded, we'd have yet another unemployed Languishite.

[Ed Anger]

Who would bomb afghan weddings?

[Neil]

The USAF budget is about 145 billion.

But... but... if the Chair Force was underfunded, we'd have yet another unemployed Languishite.

Those of them who can demonstrate some level of usefulness can be retained in one of the real armed services.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Who would bomb afghan weddings?

The Navy and Army Air Force would take care of that.  Don't worry.

[Razgovory]

Who would bomb afghan weddings?

Outsource it to China.

[Fate]

So where's all the money going to come from if they slash taxes like that?

China.

Republicans don't care about deficits so as long as they're the ones creating them.

Democrat deficits - oh man, worse than Hitler, I tell ya.

[Hansmeister]

So where's all the money going to come from if they slash taxes like that?

Elimination of most deductions.  The plan would actually be revenue-neutral.

[Iormlund]

Elimination of most deductions. 

As a single man who's only deduction is based on a pension plan, I'd love to see that happen here.