Universal Health Care Conservative Style

Republicans did not participate actively in the design of ObamaCare and for this reason the bill does not reflect conservative values.  The current Republican slogan is "Repeal and Replace." -- a good idea perhaps, but problematic.  ObamaCare is now the law. As such, its repeal will require a 60 vote Republican majority in the Senate and a Republican president to sign the bill. The Republicans are not going to pick up 13 Senate seats in the upcoming election. They might not even win a majority.  And while the presidency is a possibility, it is far from assured. So, unless the Supreme Court rides to the rescue, how realistic a slogan do we have?
It depends. ObamaCare can be repealed and replaced. However, that can only happen if the new bill gets substantial Democratic support. How can a Republican bill do that? Simply, it has to offer the Democrats something that they very much want, but that that ObamaCare does not provide: universal coverage. But, can we Republicans ever support universal coverage? I suggest that we can, if, in exchange for that, we get features that reflect core conservative values, specifically:

• Reduced Costs
• Increased Privacy and Freedom of Choice
• Reduced Bureaucracy and Regulation

I understand that, at first reading, a proposal to provide universal coverage sounds like another wasteful, not to mention massive federal expenditure. I will argue, however, that the opposite is true. We already have a health care system that is massively expensive and wasteful, and that is further characterized by levels of complexity that only a government program can achieve. At this point, comprehensive reform at the national level is the only realistic way to reduce its cost and minimize its inefficiencies.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/06/universal_health_care_conservative_style.html#ixzz1yEM1tefT