Two Planks of the Republican Healthcare Plan

1. I heard Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on NPR today talking about why the GOP doesn’t like the Democrats’ healthcare plan. It would cut Medicare, says Alexander. I thought Republicans believed that Medicare was socialized medicine?

2. I also heard a GOP partisan recently explain that the Republican healthcare plan includes making insurance companies take people with preexisting conditions. This means that one could purchase insurance after he gets sick, not before. Can I insure my home for fire after a fire starts?

Are there any Republicans besides Ron Paul who actually advocate a real free market in healthcare? That is, no medical licensing laws, no mandatory insurance, no FDA, no Department of Health and Human Services, no Medicare, no Medicaid, no SCHIP, no National Institutes of Health, no restrictions on the sale of medical devices, no federal laboratories, no federal funding of community health centers, no federal grants for medical research, no federal funding of clinical trials, no community rating laws, no federal databases, no special privileges for the AMA or Big Pharma, no restrictions on organ sales, no federal nutrition guidelines, no federal vaccination programs, no HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives, and no federal mandates, controls, or regulations of any kind.

Any Republican in favor of any of these things is not in favor of a free market in healthcare.

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6:19 pm on March 3, 2010