Oregon's Republican physician Senate candidate plagiarized Rove's healthcare plan

You would think a high-profile physician—a brain surgeon, no less—and high-profile Senate candidate would have some thoughts on what has been the hot-button political issue for the past five years, especially when that issue is healthcare reform. But if you're Dr. Monica Wehby, Oregon's trainwreck of a Republican candidate, it's just easier to steal ideas from someone else.

Republican Senate candidate Monica Wehby’s original health plan appears to have been plagiarized from a survey done for Karl Rove’s group Crossroads USA on health care reform. [...]

Rove’s group’s survey came out June 2013, while Wehby’s plan was from November of that year.

You can see the screen captures of Wehby's site, now removed, at Buzzfeed.

Of course, Rove's not going to care who plagiarizes from him, as long as it's a Republican. But the really pathetic thing here is that what Wehby lifted isn't even really a reform plan. It's a survey of a bunch of tired, old Republican ideas: Health Savings Accounts; buying insurance across state lines; and allowing insurers to keep offering junk insurance plans. These are all the ideas Republicans have been throwing around for years, none of which—even all of which combined—don't add up to actual healthcare system reform, and certainly aren't a replacement for the Affordable Care Act.

This is what an actual brain surgeon comes up with for a healthcare reform plan. Then, when called on her plagiarism, she has her campaign use this excuse to avoid giving a real response: "The suggestion that a pediatric neurosurgeon needs to copy a health care plan from American Crossroads is absurd. […] Dr. Wehby is too busy performing brain surgery on sick children to respond, sorry." Yeah, we agree. It is absurd that a brain surgeon would plagiarize such a lame plan.