But Owl, here is the problem....

It's EASY to come up with a better plan than Obamacare.... but only by accepting and thus validating and making 'Republican' (and putting them on the books) all of the backhanded tax increase (taxes on the healthy) that Democrats put in place for Obamacare. All of these middle class insurance premium increases would become tax increases. They may be allocated differently, but they are still tax increases...

and while I agree with you on VAT as you know, it still doesn't sell completely in the Republican party, and certainly won't get any defectors from the left.

You can build a plan, but you can't get re-elected on it.