Peter Suderman on Bobby Jindal’s New Health Plan

Before conservative policy
wonks can win any policy victories, they’ll need to overhaul the
Republican Party. For an idea of what that might look like, and the
challenges any transformation will entail, they should look to one
of the party’s wonkiest politicians, Louisiana Republican Gov.
Bobby Jindal. 

Last week, as President Obama touted the 7.1 million private
plan sign-ups in Obamacare’s first open enrollment period, Jindal
gave the world a glimpse at what the outlines of a Republican
alternative might look like. Not only would the plan repeal
Obamacare, it would, among other things, overhaul the tax code to
remove the tax advantage for employer-sponsored health plans, offer
incentives to states to protect access for individuals with
preexisting health conditions, block grant Medicaid, expand health
savings accounts, and create a $100 billion innovation fund for
states experimenting with policies to bring down the cost of health
care.  

But just as important as the particulars was the simple fact
that Jindal was offering something that many Obamacare proponents,
including the president, had said did not exist: a conservative
health care policy. At the same time, Jindal’s plan was a challenge
to his fellow Republicans to take health policy more seriously, to
reckon with the tradeoffs it requires, and to begin the process of
unifying around an alternative. It was a declaration, of sorts,
that Republicans and the right could—and should—be wonky and policy
focused too.

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