White House health summit 10:32 a.m.
  –Following President Obama’s opening statement, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner turn to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., to “frame” (McConnell’s word) the Republican opening statement. We’re not off to a good start. Alexander, advertised as introducing the Republicans’ proposals, starts speaking c. 10:23 a.m. He spends at least 90 percent of his time arguing against the Dems, in favor of “putting the current [health care] bill on the shelf”; going to “a clean piece of paper”; “starting over.”

GOP proposals? In “one or two sentences,” as Alexander says, they are–what? Didn’t get or hear #6, myself. Eliminating “junk lawsuits”–i.e. medical malpractice litigation–is predictably #3. Alexander asserts that medical malpractice premiums are being driven up by the lawsuits.

HAS ANYBODY EVER CHECKED THIS?

What, exactly, is the ratio of malpractice litigation costs, for the insurance companies, to malpractice insurance premiums? Do the companies jack up premiums afterward, on any doctor who actually files a claim–the way they do to the rest of us?

Alexander also favors allowing customers to buy insurance across state lines; some unspecified helps to small business, referring to Enzi, previously mentioned by Obama; giving states unspecified incentives; individual health savings accounts; and that unstated #6.