Obama's Health Bill to Include Republican Proposals
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
President Barack Obama is set to outline a revised health care reform proposal tomorrow, and he says it will include some Republican ideas.
The president says his plan will embrace medical malpractice reform, encourage the use of medical savings accounts, and call for increased payments to doctors who treat Medicaid patients. Those ideas were championed by Republicans at the bipartisan health summit last week.
Despite the nod to Republican concerns, the president pledged to buck their long-standing opposition to comprehensive legislation by pledging to push the bill through with or without their help.
According to The New York Times, Republicans insist that the best approach is to start over, arguing that the American people do not support a comprehensive fix to the health care system.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says that if Democrats push the bill through “it will be the issue in every single election in America this fall.”
The proposal will also include a call for sending investigators disguised as patients to uncover fraud and waste by health care providers. That idea was promoted by Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma at the summit.

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