I agree, Jacob. Republicans p!ssed away those years they were in power, acting as if they would have their power forever and could do whatever they wanted, putting off badly needed reforms and huge chunks of the conservative agenda. I would add to your list that they could have cut the balls off of the disgusting, despicable, good-for-nothing, bloodsucking, termite trial lawyers. Not just in the health care realm, but across the board. They are nothing but parasitic locusts, destroying one business after another in a greedy quest to line their pockets. And the pigs turn around and use a good chunk of their ill-gotten gains as protection money to the Democrat party, which protects their grotesque racket. Slobs, all of them. And Republicans had a chance to do something about them, but passed. Pathetic. And unforgivable.

hello. many well placed points J.T. . exactly what republican solutions are better? my opinion is government, including republicans, are part of the problem of over spending, over taxing, over regulating, over and over and over. we vote one out, and the replacement listens to the bag of money offered by the lobbyists and special interests. the problem is deeper than wealth care reform. capitalism especially from interests outside the country [(Soros)etc.] is ruining politics. change is beyond our control without our own lobby with dollars for our government employees to listen to us. i do not want a compromise.

It's not just Republicans; there are a fair number of Democrats who are opposed to this plan as well. @JacobsTrouble, While the GOP dropped the ball in many ways & on many levels, the Democrats are clearly bent on taking us from bad to worse. It's like dwelling on the aftermath of Katrina while a new record-setting hurricane is looming in the Gulf. Time to leave behind the GOP's mistakes & start focusing on the Dem's before we are again left with nothing better than reproaches in the aftermath of further disaster.

Republicans wouldn't be in this predicament had they used the six golden years from 2000 - 2006 wisely. Instead of playing compromise oriented bipartisanship with the statists, they could have really reformed the bastions of socialism like Medicare, Socail Security, Healthcare, Education. They could have: 1. removed lobby influenced mandates on insurance carriers 2. removed restrictions on policy underwriting from across state lines 3. bridled malpractice lawsuits 4. minimized the role of government in healthcare and 5. articulated the concept of Health Savings Account Now the tables are turned.