Boehner lays out GOP healthcare alternative

As Republicans prepare to roll out their healthcare alternative on Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner penned an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Tribune that outlines its principles.

The editorial is interesting because it lays out the GOP plan in broad terms and seems equally focused on attacking the Democrats plan for increasing spending and creating a "government take over of healthcare."

Here are the major tenets of the GOP plan, according to Boehner.

We'll lower costs by offering incentives to help Americans who do not have access to quality health care get the coverage they can afford. We'll give states tools to design programs that make health care coverage more affordable for everyone while cutting regulations so insurance companies compete for your business and you can shop around for the best coverage and price.

We'll reduce costs and expand access to quality care by providing small businesses better options to make health care coverage available for employees and their families. By letting small businesses band together through associations and purchase health insurance for workers at a lower cost, just like large corporations do, more families than ever will enjoy health care coverage previously unavailable to them.

We'll root out health care waste, fraud and abuse, which cost taxpayers billions, and reform medical liability rules that cost families millions each year -- millions that line the pockets of trial lawyers at the expense of patients and doctors....

And Boehner also highlights what has been one of the GOP's top talking points, that their plan will keep "government bureaucrats out of the medical decision-making process" and "preserves the doctor-patient relationship."

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