GOP Says Dems Health Overhaul Would Break The Bank

ERICA WERNER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sensing a political opening, the Senate's GOP leader said Saturday that Democratic efforts to overhaul health care will bury the nation in debt.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky accused the Obama administration and congressional Democrats of rushing expensive and flawed plans that would result in rationing of care. McConnell's criticism, in the weekly GOP radio and Internet address, came after a rocky start for legislation to revamp the system, with eye-popping cost estimates, partisan anger and divisions within the Democratic ranks.

"Throughout this debate, the administration's central argument has been that America needs health care reform for the sake of the economy," McConnell said. "Yet according to independent estimates, every health care proposal Democrats on Capitol Hill have offered would only hurt the economy."

Polls show that Obama remains personally popular even as public skepticism grows over his agenda, and McConnell never mentioned the president by name.

But he did refer to recent setbacks dealt to Obama's goal of overhauling the nation's health care system to bring down costs and extend coverage to 50 million uninsured Americans.