Health care bill sound familiar? It should – Republicans wrote it.

Now that the carnage has (mostly) subsided from the historic March 21 vote, the benefits of the bill are starting to become clear. Soon, 32 million Americans will finally have access to a quality, affordable health insurance plan, making us the last industrialized nation in the world to provide that access to its citizens.

Starting this year, small businesses that offer coverage will begin to receive tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums to help make employee coverage more affordable. Children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage. New and select existing plans will allow young people to remain on their parents’ insurance policy up until their 26th birthday.

Starting this year, insurance companies will be banned from dropping people from coverage when they get sick, and banned from implementing lifetime caps on coverage. Adults who are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions will have access to affordable insurance through a temporary high-risk pool. Women can no longer be denied health insurance because they conquered breast cancer or were battered by a spouse.

The Medicare Part D donut hole begins to be closed by providing a $250 rebate to seniors who hit the gap in prescription drug coverage. Early retirees will now have access to a temporary re-insurance program to help offset the costs of expensive premiums for employers and retirees age 55-64. Plans will be forced to offer free proven preventative services that save lives and money in the long run, by screening for things like colon, breast and prostate cancer and catching them early.

Starting in a few years, state's will be allowed to establish insurance exchange marketplaces where customers can purchase plans. Working families will recieve subsidies based on a sliding scale of their income, in order to purchase coverage. I could keep going, but the benefits are too numerous to list. If you want to know what else is in the bill, you can read a good summary here.

Democrats passed this legislation, the biggest domestic legislative accomplishment since Medicare in the 60’s, without a single Republican vote. Despite Senator Max Baucus spending months in the Senate working to forge a compromise with the "Gang of Six", the GOP balked. And finally, they locked up completely in August of 2009.

Their strategy: become the party of no. Help spread flat-out lies (Chuck Grassley, I'm looking at you) about "killing grandma." Get the public angry and confused and turn them against the bill in order to kill it. Do not compromise, do not contribute. Do not point to any good part of the bill, rather, simply paint the whole thing with a broad, scary brush in order to doom it. Urge the President and Congress to scrap the bill and start over. Delay. Stall. Kill.

But why? Did they truly disagree with what the bill contained? Do they still? And how can they reckon that with their own support and, in many cases, creation of the similar bills in the past?

The final bill that was signed by the President on March 23, embraces ideas already proposed by the GOP. In fact, it’s almost entirely composed of their ideas that have existed since 1973.

It not only represents a compromise (Democrats wanted single-payer universal coverage or, at the very least, a public insurance option, more high-end taxes, more subsidies for working families), it represents very-closely the plans Republicans proposed in 1974 and 1993 and the system 2008 & 2012 GOP Presidential Candidate, Governor Mitt Romney created in Massachusetts. In fact, in several areas, the GOP versions contained even MORE government control and regulation.

Here’s a point-by-point, side-by-side breakdown of the health care legislation that just passed, the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPAC) and a comparison of previous Republican proposals, including: Mitt Romney’s 2005 Healthcare Plan (ROMNEY), the 1993 Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act of 1993, (HEART) and Nixon’s 1974 Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan, (CHIP).

Individual Mandate
Every American must purchase health insurance or pay a small yearly tax.
1974 CHIP: No
1993 GOP HEART: Yes - unless they object for hardship or religious reasons
2005 ROMNEY: Yes
2010 PPAC: Yes – unless they object for hardship or religious reasons

Employer Mandate
Employers must offer health insurance to employees.
CHIP: Yes – Every employer, regardless of size.
HEART: Yes – Every employer, regardless of size.
ROMNEY: Yes – Employers with over 10 employees.
PPAC: Yes – Employers with over 50 employees.

Individual Subsidies
Federal subsidies for families and individuals without employer coverage, to purchase health insurance: CHIP: Yes, HEART: Yes, ROMNEY: Yes, PPAC: Yes

Creation of a state-based insurance exchange
CHIP: Yes, HEART: Yes, ROMNEY: Yes, PPAC: Yes

Create a government-run insurance plan
CHIP: Yes – Replace Medicaid with a new insurance plan run by the U.S. Government, HEART: No, ROMNEY: Yes, PPAC: No

Rate Increase Reviews
Give the Federal Government the power to authorize or deny health insurance company rate increases: CHIP: Yes, HEART: No, ROMNEY: NA, PPAC: No

Denying Health Insurance Due to Pre-Existing Condition
Bans insurance companies from denying health insurance to someone with a pre-existing medical condition: CHIP: Yes, HEART: Yes, ROMNEY: Yes, PPAC: Yes

Prohibiting health insurance companies from canceling policies
Bans insurance companies from being able to cancel coverage.
CHIP: Yes, HEART: Yes, ROMNEY: No, PPAC: Yes

Free Preventative Care
CHIP: Yes – Children only, HEART: Yes, ROMNEY: Yes for low income citizens, PPAC: Yes

Prohibit Insurers from Setting Lifetime Spending Caps
CHIP: No, HEART: Yes, ROMNEY: No, PPAC: Yes

Reduced Growth in Medicaid Spending
CHIP: Yes – Wanted to eliminate Medicaid completely, HEART: Yes, ROMNEY: NA, PPAC: Yes

Cracks Down on Waste, Fraud and Abuse
CHIP: Yes, HEART: Yes – Creates a new federal agency, ROMNEY: No, PPAC: Yes

The fact is, the bill that passed on March 21 is extremely moderate. It maintains the capitalist, free-market system of a private insurance market and adds regulations that have been proposed in the past by Republicans (many of whom still serve in the U.S. Senate today and opposed this bill).

This bill does not have a public insurance option. It does not eliminate insurance companies, it does not put the government in the driver seat of your healthcare, it does not take medical decisions away from a doctor and patient. It does not publicly fund abortions. It does not allow undocumented workers to purchase subsidized health insurance. It will not put your grandmother in front of a death panel. It is nothing even remotely close to socialism, let alone Communism (the Socialist USA Party has condemned the bill for not providing single-payer or a public option).

Nearly every basic principle of this bill has been taken from previous Republican legislation. So why did Republicans all vote no? And why, now, are they screaming that it will lead to Armageddon, gulags, big brother? And why are they vowing to repeal it?


Sources:
ROMNEY-Care
GOP’s 1993 HEART Proposal
Nixon’s 1974 CHIP Proposal