WH assistant press secretary mocks GOP healthcare proposal as unserious

A White House press secretary and the communications director for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) argued on Twitter Tuesday about the GOP’s healthcare plan, raised at an earlier House GOP press conference.

{mosads}Matt Lehrich, assistant White House press secretary, mocked Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for tweeting about Republicans’ “patient-centered approach” to healthcare reform, charging there was no link to an actual plan.

Our patient-centered approach is about lowering #hcr costs, and empowering ppl to choose the plans and docs they want

— John Boehner (@johnboehner) December 3, 2013

This seems to be missing a link to an actual plan? Typo? https://t.co/ZQitIKNdzb

— Matt Lehrich (@Lehrich44) December 3, 2013

Rory Cooper, Cantor’s spokesman, responded with a link to a webpage hosted on the House Republican Caucus’s website outlining GOP principles on healthcare reform.

Lowering healthcare premiums, promoting healthier lifestyles, and encouraging small business health plans are just a few of its bullet points.

@Lehrich44 Here ya go: http://t.co/SfVCw3i9dc Now, about that promise that you could keep your plan and doctor under Obamacare…

— Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) December 3, 2013

Lehrich shot back, calling the plan’s points vague.

@rorycooper Ahh, sorry. Forgot that most serious plans for dealing with the 1/6 o our economy fit in 9 vague bullet points.

— Matt Lehrich (@Lehrich44) December 3, 2013

Early Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee launched a website deriding the GOP’s healthcare plan: thegophealthcareplan.com. The Republicans’ plan, the page says, is to repeal the president’s healthcare law.

At Boehner’s Tuesday morning press conference, he said ObamaCare “continues to wreak havoc on American families, small businesses and our economy.”

A reporter asked the Speaker what the GOP’s patient-driven healthcare proposal entails and whether the GOP would allow a vote on an alternative to ObamaCare next year.

“Well, when you look at ObamaCare, what you see is a government-centered healthcare delivery system. And that’s not what the American people want,” Boehner explained.

“The American people want to be able to pick their own type of health insurance. They want to be able to pick their own doctor, they want to be able to pick their own hospital. That’s what a patient-centered healthcare system looks like.”

Asked again if he’d put up a vote for a GOP plan in 2014, he said, “We’ll see.”