Republicans are planning to counter President Obama's health care proposal with one of their own. According to the Washington Post,
Republicans are preparing to use Thursday's White House health-care summit to sell their own ideas for using the private marketplace to expand coverage and reduce costs, but they remain wary of fumbling away what they believe is an advantage on the issue heading into this year's critical midterm elections.
GOP leaders are acutely aware of the stakes involved in the extraordinary bipartisan gathering. An effective performance could give their party a vital image boost as November approaches. But if the party's delegation stumbles or oversteps, President Obama and congressional Democrats could see the session provide new life to the stalled health-care legislation they have been laboring over for a year.
The Republican summit strategy is twofold: to portray the Obama plan as radical and ruinously expensive, while reassuring a potential television audience of millions that the GOP takes the health-care crisis seriously and is prepared to address it head on.
The Republican plan, however, does not address every provision in Democratic health care plans and is intended more to sell the idea of private marketplace solutions to voters than to lay out the technical legislative requirements necessary to implement their plan.
For the full story in the Washington Post, click here.
