How to Judge Obamacare Alternatives

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The rocky rollout of the PatientProtection and Affordable Care Act has forced President BarackObama to express his openness, albeit half-heartedly, to reformsthat might accomplish the law’s goals. In response,congressional Republicans have offered no fewer than three majoralternatives to Obamacare, the most recent being an overhaulplan from Republican Senators Tom Coburn, Richard Burr and OrrinHatch. All these proposals address the issue at the heart of thelaw’s name -- the affordability of health care.

So why has so little attention been paid to theseAffordable Care Act replacements? The main reason is that muchof the mainstream media, as well as Democrats who support thelaw, isn’t all that concerned about the affordability of healthcare. Instead, they have bought into a flawed thesis: that theonly way to measure the alternatives is by counting the numberof people they would insure.