GOP on health care: In 568 words, what's wrong with 1,990 pages

House Republican Leader John Boehner gave the Republican radio address today, and in 568 words made a simple and compelling case for what is wrong with the Democrats' 1,990-page health care proposal -- and for what should be done instead.

"This 1,990 pages of bureaucracy will centralize health care decision making in Washington, DC," Boehner said. "It’ll require thousands of new federal employees. It’ll put unelected boards, bureaus, and commissions in charge of who gets access to what drug and what potentially life-saving treatment."

"The best way to get a sense of what Speaker Pelosi’s takeover of health care looks like is to actually look at it," Boehner continued. "Just shy of 2,000 pages, it runs more than 620 pages longer than the government-run plan Hillary Clinton proposed in 1993."

Boehner then offered four proposals to improve the health care situation in America -- not a universal fix, but four significant improvements:

Number one: let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines;

Number two: allow individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do today;

Number three: give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs; and

Number four: end junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs by increasing the number of tests and procedures that physicians sometimes order not because they think it's good medicine, but because they are afraid of being sued.

Boehner summed up by saying .... "No doubt the White House and Democrats in Congress will continue to insist that Republicans "have no plan." But Boehner's four proposals are contained in fleshed-out legislative form in several GOP reform bills. They really exist. You can check them out.

Of course, Republicans have been saying this for months, and few have listened. But there is the possibility that House Democrats, by unveiling a plan even more gargantuan than some supporters expected, have finally pushed too far; the giant stack of paper that is the printed version of the 1,990-page bill is a physical representation of what Republican critics have long branded a massive government takeover of health care.

And it won’t come cheap. Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill will raise the cost of Americans’ health insurance premiums; it will kill jobs with tax hikes and new mandates; and it will cut seniors’ Medicare benefits.

We now have a choice: we can come together to implement smart, fiscally responsible reforms to improve Americans’ health care or we can recklessly pursue this government takeover that creates far more problems than it solves.

It’s clear where the American people stand on this issue. They‘re frustrated and fed up. The ‘stimulus’ bill isn’t working. Unemployment is rising. The debt to be paid by our kids and grandkids is exploding. And now, Speaker Pelosi’s 1,990-page government takeover of health care.

Enough is enough. Breaking the bank and taking away the freedoms Americans cherish is not the answer to the challenges we face."