CBO Has GOP Healthcare Bill

The Hill reports that the Congressional Budget Office has had a copy of the GOP Healthcare bill for a few days already to have it analyzed.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) said on Monday that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has had a copy of the yet-to-be-seen bill for the past few days.

When will it make it to the floor?

They are likely to release their bill when Democrats release the manager's amendment of their healthcare bill, according to aides familiar with the GOP strategy.

Who has or has seen the bill itself beside Republican leadership?

GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) on Monday said Republicans intend to hold an 12-hour live town hall meeting “coast-to-coast” over the Internet starting on Thursday at 1 p.m.

The minority party is set to open a “reading room” on Tuesday afternoon for members of their conference to read the nearly 2,000 page bill. Pence said that experts would be on hand to discuss the proposal with lawmakers, as well.

Pence said that GOP lawmakers delivered hard copies of the actual bill to libraries around their respective districts over the weekend.

What can we expect to see in the actual bill?

The American people have spoken. They oppose government-run health care. Republicans are on the side of the American people.

What Americans want are common-sense, responsible solutions that address the rising cost of health care and other major problems. In the national Republican address on Saturday, October 31, 2009, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) discussed Republicans’ plan for common-sense health care reform our nation can afford. Boehner’s address emphasized four common-sense reforms that will lower health care costs and expand access to quality care without a government takeover of our nation’s health care system that kills jobs, raises taxes on small businesses, or cuts Medicare for seniors:

• Number one: let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines.
• Number two: allow individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do.
• Number three: give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs.
• Number four: end junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs by increasing the number of tests and procedures that physicians sometimes order not because they think it's good medicine, but because they are afraid of being sued.

For the full text of Leader Boehner’s address, click HERE. For more information about these and some of the other common-sense health care reforms proposed by Republicans, please visit the links below. The Republican health care substitute to be offered during floor debate on Speaker Pelosi's government takeover of health care will incorporate all or part of the following bills:

• Empowering Patients First Act (Republican Study Committee Health Care Reform Bill, introduced July 30, 2009)
• Improving Health Care for All Americans Act (Shadegg Health Care Reform Bill, introduced July 14, 2009)
• Medical Rights & Reform Act (Kirk-Dent Health Care Reform Bill, introduced June 16, 2009)
• Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act (Gingrey medical liability reform bill, introduced June 6, 2009)
• Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2009 (Johnson small business health plans bill, introduced May 21, 2009)
• Promoting Health and Preventing Chronic Disease through Prevention and Wellness Programs for Employees, Communities, and Individuals Act of 2009 (Castle Wellness & Prevention Bill, introduced July 31, 2009)
• Improved Employee Access to Health Insurance Act of 2009 (Deal auto-enrollment bill, introduced October 15, 2009)
• Health Insurance Access for Young Workers and College Students Act of 2009 (Blunt bill to improve health insurance coverage of dependents, introduced October 21, 2009)

With rumors that the goal post on the Democrat's time frame for Obamacare bill being moved again, this is the perfect timing for the GOP to start releasing their healthcare reform plan.

[Update] Boehner Challenges Speaker Pelosi to Allow Vote on GOP Health Care Plan (video below)



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