As is well known Congressional Republicans have vehemently opposed the Affordable Care Act (the ACA or Obamacare). House Republicans, for example, have voted an estimated 50 times to replace the law. Despite their criticisms over the past four years only recently has the party presented anything that approaches a substantive alternative to the ACA. Earlier this year an alternative proposal was presented by Republican Sentors Burr, Coburn and Hatch titled the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment (CARE) Act.
During this 21 minute podcast Jim discusses several provisions of the CARE plan, i.e., auto-enroll and continuous coverage, coverage limits and mandates, limitations on the tax exclusion, reforms to Medicaid and other issues.
James C. Capretta is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, where he provides research and analysis on a wide range of public policy and economic issues with a focus on health-care and entitlement reform, US fiscal policy and global population aging. He also is presently a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Capretta previously served in senior positions in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government for sixteen years. For example, from 2001 to 2004, he was an Associate Director at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he had responsibility for health care, Social Security, education, and welfare programs. He received his MA in Public Policy Studies from Duke University and was graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in Government.
Details regarding the CARE Act can be found at: http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/rightnow?ContentRecord_id=7ef8f0d5-bf56-4ea3-80fe-7f86765a00ca&ContentType_id=b4672ca4-3752-49c3-bffc-fd099b51c966.
A Republican Alternative to the Affordable Care Act: A Conversation with James Capretta (June 27th)