After voting dozens of times against President Obama’s signature legislative achievement—the Affordable Care Act—House Republicans are preparing to officially unveil a GOP alternative to Obamacare, according to reports. The right-wing blog Town Hall writes that the forthcoming proposal marks the first time Republicans have managed to coalesce around an alternative healthcare plan after failed efforts to achieve broad support in the GOP.
According to an article in Sunday’s Washington Post, House Republican leadership will begin to share outlines of the plan with other lawmakers this month, marking the first time House leaders have “put their full force” behind an alternative proposal:
The plan includes an expansion of high-risk insurance pools, promotion of health savings accounts and inducements for small businesses to purchase coverage together.
The tenets of the plan — which could expand to include the ability to buy insurance across state lines, guaranteed renewability of policies and changes to medical-malpractice regulations — are ideas that various conservatives have for a long time backed as part of broader bills.
News of the Republican alternative come as the March 31 deadline to purchase insurance or face a penalty nears. It also comes on the heels of President Obama’s interview with comedian Zach Galifianakis in which Obama declared healthcare.gov is “working great.” The president’s appearance on Galifianakis’ internet show “Between Two Ferns” has reportedly led to a spike in traffic to healthcare.gov.
