How?
ensure that persons are not denied coverage because of preexisting health conditions when changing employment;
Which Obamacare does, and which I believe a lot of its opponents claimed would drive up premiums.
crack down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, while preserving the confidentiality of medical records from inappropriate scrutiny and without imposing criminal penalties for clerical errors and billing mistakes;
How many years, nay decades, have we heard politicians talk about cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. Yet Republican congresses and Republican presidents haven't done squat.
reform malpractice laws, to reduce the costly practice of “defensive medicine” and to make it easier for doctors to specialize in fields like obstetrics. We also recognize the vital importance of maintaining the confidentiality of the national practitioners data base;
There are, I believe, at least 26 states that have enacted tort reform that caps payouts in medical malpractice cases. Can you offer any evidence at all that medical insurance premiums are lower in those states than in states that don't have tort reform?
let individuals set up tax-free Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs), so they can plan for their own medical needs instead of relying on government or insurance companies.
An average appendectomy will set you back about $10,000. How long will it take you to build up an MSA to pay for that? How about chemotherapy for a child? Or a simple broken arm and trip to the emergency room - that'll be a couple thousand right there. The problem with MSAs is you need the money to fund the MSA. The average person doesn't have that kind of disposable income.
Republicans believe that Medicare and Medicaid recipients should also have the option to utilize Medical Savings Accounts, which would result in huge savings for the American taxpayers;
And the same question there; how do you fund it? How does that segment of the population which generally has the least amount of disposable income and the greatest amount of medical costs come up with thousands and thousands of dollars each year for an MSA?
overhaul the Food and Drug Administration to get better products on the market faster and at less cost to consumers;
How? It is a serious question. What corners do you cut on testing new drugs?
promote a private market for long-term care insurance; reduce paperwork through electronic billing;
Long term care insurance is the ultimate rip-off.
change anti-trust laws to let health care providers cooperate in holding down charges;
Where is their incentive to do that?
Financial arrangements should not be a barrier to a patient’s receiving quality medical care;
It generally is the biggest barrier to a patient's receiving care.
permit families with incomes up to twice the poverty level to buy into Medicaid;
And who will fund the increase in Medicaid costs? The federal government? Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't that a big part of Obamacare that a lot of Red states turned down?
promote rural health care through telecommunications and emergency air transport;
Paid for with what?
and increase funding for Community and Migrant Health Centers.
Healthcare for illegals?
It was meant to show that Rs had some ideas.
Some of your comments are good, some lack breadth (i.e. you forgot the catastrophic coverage component of MSAs).
Yes, some are the same as Obamacare.
For me, lawyers are the biggest cause of much waste and high costs in America. They become our representatives, after all.