Republicans to Offer Alternative Health-Care Bill

The House Republican Conference circulated what it called a list of "new boards, bureaucracies, commissions and programs" created in the House health care bill. That is an attempt to portray Democrats' reform package as an unwieldy expansion of federal government in the health care sector.

Photo: Republicans to Offer Alternative Health-Care Bill

House Republicans claimed Monday that the health care reform bill pushed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi would create a whopping 111 new "federal bureaucracies."

In its latest attempt to portray the Democrats' reform package as an unwieldy expansion of federal government in the health care sector, the House Republican Conference circulated what it called a list of "new boards, bureaucracies, commissions and programs" created in the House health care bill.

Among some off the new agencies, the list cites a Health Insurance Exchange; the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation; the Public Health Investment Fund; the Public Health Workforce Corps; an Assistant Secretary for Health Information; the Food and Drug Administration Office of Women's Health; grant programs for alternative medical liability laws, infant mortality programs and other issues; and about 100 other government-sponsored creations.

"That ought to tell you all that we need to know, that we're going to have 1,990 pages of legislation," House Minority Leader John Boehner said in an interview Sunday. "The word 'shall' exists in this bill 3,345 times," FOXNews reports.

In the meantime, Republicans are preparing an alternative health-care bill to Democratic legislation, House Republican Leader John Boehner said, marking a shift in strategy as the full House is set to begin debate on the issue this week.

Mr. Boehner said Sunday the Republican bill would extend health-insurance coverage to "millions" of Americans but wouldn't try to match the scope of the House Democratic bill unveiled last week. The Democratic legislation, if passed, is estimated to expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans now without insurance. Its estimated gross cost is $1.055 trillion over 10 years.

By unveiling their own legislation, Republicans will be able to coalesce around a concrete plan. But they also open themselves to potential criticism of their proposals.

GOP leaders hope to offer the measure as an alternative during debate on the Democratic bill, and a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Republicans would be allowed to do so.

In the Senate, where Democratic leaders are pushing a proposal to create a new government-run insurance plan, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, made clear again Sunday that he opposed the idea. The senator said he wouldn't try to block debate on the bill, but signaled he would support any Republican efforts to block a vote on it, The Wall Street Journal reports.

It was also reported, House Democrats unveiled their unified bill last week, which was estimated to cost $1.055 trillion over 10 years. House lawmakers are expected to begin debate this week, but Republicans -- vastly outnumbered in the House -- continue to push back hard.

"Rather than a trillion dollar government takeover, it's going to be a step-by-step reform of the current system," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel, adding only that there will be no so-called public option in the GOP plan, FOXNews reports.