Republicans’ ideas won’t help health care

I was disappointed watching the Republicans at the health care summit Thursday. They didn't even bother to try to make much of a case. Democrats are offering moderate plans that draw heavily on past Republican ideas, but Republicans keep responding with the same misleading talking points.

Republicans have two ideas. One is tort reform and the other is selling insurance across state lines. Neither would do much toward fixing what's wrong with our system and would increase profits for the insurance companies.

Allowing unrestricted competition across state lines is really just another way to further deregulate an industry that's already literally killing people because it's so unregulated. The states with the weakest regulations would set the standards for the nation as a whole.

Robert Linwins

Cedar Rapids