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Mitt Romney: It's a "Compliment" to Be Called "Grandfather of ObamaCare"
The New American ^ | 21 September 2012 | Michael Tennant

Posted on 03/03/2016 6:13:13 AM PST by VitacoreVision

Despite all his talk of repealing and replacing the misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told an audience September 19 that he takes it as "a compliment" when President Barack Obama calls him "the grandfather of ObamaCare."

Appearing at a Univision "Meet the Candidate" forum, Romney touted his own "experience in healthcare reform." That, of course, would be the 2006 healthcare law that Romney signed into law as governor of Massachusetts. That law mandated that all residents carry health insurance or pay a tax penalty and that insurers not discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions. It also set up a state insurance exchange and subsidized insurance premiums for those unable to afford them on their own.

If that sounds like ObamaCare, that’s because it is. In fact, Obama specifically modeled his plan on Romney’s, even going so far as to consult former Romney advisers about how to take Romneycare nationwide. One of those former advisers, MIT economist Jon Gruber, told Newsweek that Romney is “the one person who deserves the most credit for the national plan we ended up with.” Thus, while Obama was undoubtedly playing politics when he credited Romney with siring the prototype for the Affordable Care Act, he was also telling the truth.

After mentioning his own healthcare-reform credentials, Romney continued: “Now and then the president says I’m the grandfather of ObamaCare. I don’t think he meant that as a compliment but I’ll take it.”

Romney had a bit of a smile on his face, as if he were saying that in jest. Yet the next words out of his mouth indicated otherwise: “This was during my primary; we thought it might not be helpful.” In other words, when he had to win the votes of the conservative base of the Republican Party, he felt obliged to pretend that he had nothing at all to do with ObamaCare and, in fact, loathed it. Now that the GOP is stuck with him, he can admit that he really is honored to have had a hand in foisting that unconstitutional monstrosity on the country — no great shock considering he once declared that RomneyCare should be “a model for the nation” and later urged Obama to use the Massachusetts law as a template for his own.

“I’ve actually been able to put in place a system that fit the needs of the people of my state,” Romney added, “and I’m proud of the fact that in my state, after our plan was put in place, every child has insurance, 98 percent of adults have insurance, but we didn’t have to cut Medicare by $716 billion to do that. We didn’t raise taxes on health companies by $500 billion as the president did.”

While no one can deny that Bay Staters are among the most insured people in the nation, there is reason to question whether this is, as Romney would have it, a victory for the free market (aided by government mandates). According to CBS News, “Of the 439,000 previously uninsured Massachusetts residents who obtained insurance after the reform became law, 83 percent did through publicly-funded programs, such as Commonwealth Care and MassHealth. Federal Medicaid funds underwrite about half the state’s cost.”

That is, Romney’s great “success” in getting Massachusetts residents insured has come about almost exclusively through government spending, half of which was supplied by Uncle Sam. This is the only reason Massachusetts was able to implement its plan without major tax increases. (The observant reader will recognize a subtle shift in Romney’s rhetoric since the Supreme Court ruled that the individual mandate is a tax; Romney now says merely that he didn’t hike healthcare business taxes, not that he didn’t raise taxes at all.) If this is the prototype for ObamaCare, U.S. taxpayers are in deep trouble.

Romney then went on to explain how he would replace ObamaCare: “We’re going to give you the Medicaid dollars you’ve had in the past, plus grow them with inflation, plus one percent, and you as the states are now going to be given targets to move people towards insurance, and you craft programs that are right for your state.”

Here Romney obliquely hinted at the fact that the Massachusetts plan was financed by Medicaid. More importantly, he laid out at least part of his plan to replace ObamaCare: Increase federal healthcare spending and force states to get their citizens insured. Unlike ObamaCare, this, he would have us believe, is constitutional and indeed the very essence of federalism:

The idea of a federal government stepping in, and telling people, here’s the kind of insurance you have to have. You don’t get the choice of whether you want comprehensive or whether you want catastrophic. The government is going to tell you what you have to have. The government is going to ultimately have a board that tells you what kind of care you can receive. That in my opinion is not the right way to go on healthcare.
The approach that I would propose is one that would give individuals choice as opposed to government choice. That’s going to get our people insured and will keep the cost of healthcare from going through the roof as it has been, and I believe it will allow people to continue to have the relationship with their doctor and their provider that they want.

Of course, Romney’s approach would simply shift the role of healthcare dictator from Washington to state capitals, which may be somewhat federalist but is still a bad idea. States would mandate that their citizens purchase insurance and — as they already do to a large extent — what that insurance must cover, with Washington (read: taxpayers) footing the bill. Undoubtedly the federal government would establish some basic rules for this insurance, and over time those rules would become just as onerous as those being established under ObamaCare today.

Moreover, this would not, as Romney suggested, “keep the cost of healthcare from going through the roof” or prevent the government from dictating “what kind of care you can receive.” Romneycare has done the exact opposite for Massachusetts residents. Per capita health spending in the Bay State is now 27 percent higher than the national average, and insurance premiums are double the national average. Costs have gotten so far out of hand that the state recently imposed price controls on healthcare providers; and to enforce these price controls the legislature created an independent state agency — “a board that tells you what kind of care you can receive.”

Romney, therefore, is wrong to take any pride in being either “the grandfather of ObamaCare” or the father of Romneycare. Just as surely as the latter has reduced liberty and increased healthcare costs and government control over medicine in Massachusetts, so will the former do across the entire country.

Related articles:

ObamaCare: Past, Present, and Yet to Come

The New World of ObamaCare


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Florida; US: Massachusetts; US: New Jersey; US: New York; US: Ohio; US: South Carolina; US: Texas; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: 2016election; abortion; backstabberromney; chrischristie; deathpanels; election2016; florida; johnkasich; lindseygraham; marcorubio; massachusetts; mittromney; mrromneycare; newjersey; newyork; obamacare; ohio; proudmrromneycare; proudwillard; romneycare; romneycare4all; romneycare4ever; romneycare4you; southcarolina; tedcruz; texas; trump; zerocare
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1 posted on 03/03/2016 6:13:13 AM PST by VitacoreVision
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To: VitacoreVision

He’s senile already?


2 posted on 03/03/2016 6:15:58 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: VitacoreVision; Lakeshark

See Lakeshark. I'm not the most pathetically tone deaf one. Mitt is. Please clap.

3 posted on 03/03/2016 6:17:25 AM PST by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: VitacoreVision

Don’t force me to buy a product I don’t want or need. Got it Mitt?


4 posted on 03/03/2016 6:18:31 AM PST by refermech
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To: VitacoreVision
Despite all his talk of repealing and replacing the misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told an audience September 19 that he takes it as "a compliment" when President Barack Obama calls him "the grandfather of ObamaCare."

Just one of the many reasons why we do not trust you, Mitt!

5 posted on 03/03/2016 6:19:51 AM PST by Prov1322 (Enjoy my wife's incredible artwork at www.watercolorARTwork.com! (This space no longer for rent))
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To: VitacoreVision

Glenn Beck dreaming last night-
“I know... Let’s talk Mitt into getting back in the race.. Stu? Were is my milk Mommy? You said that we would have milk in the morning! Mommy? Why is Donald Trump in your bedroom?”


6 posted on 03/03/2016 6:20:00 AM PST by freedomjusticeruleoflaw (Western Civilization- whisper the words, and it will disappear. So let us talk now about rebirth.)
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To: VitacoreVision

Please go away Mittens. You’re an embarrassment.


7 posted on 03/03/2016 6:21:37 AM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: VitacoreVision

But the Mittwit true believers will still fawn over him.


8 posted on 03/03/2016 6:23:12 AM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: Servant of the Cross
Please clap.

The single most pathetic moment I've witnessed in 30 years of following politics.

9 posted on 03/03/2016 6:23:58 AM PST by Personal Responsibility (We need a separation of press and state!)
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To: refermech

And to think at one time I was completely enamored with this guy.


10 posted on 03/03/2016 6:24:11 AM PST by V_TWIN
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To: VitacoreVision
And this is the guy the Establishment has chosen to defend its feeding trough???

These guys are stupider than I thought!

11 posted on 03/03/2016 6:25:08 AM PST by Savage Beast (We see an ocean of crashing waves, as black holes create a violent storm in the fabric of space-time)
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To: VitacoreVision
Sure is a lot of "Mitt" on FR this morning....

:)

12 posted on 03/03/2016 6:27:14 AM PST by unread (Joe McCarthy was right.......)
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To: Personal Responsibility

“I want to be your first” was pretty bad.......creepy too.


13 posted on 03/03/2016 6:28:32 AM PST by V_TWIN
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To: V_TWIN

I voted for him and was amazed that he lost. I just could not believe it. If we lose this election, I’ll give up all hope. The republic will have been given away.


14 posted on 03/03/2016 6:30:37 AM PST by refermech
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To: VitacoreVision

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/30/politics/2016-gop-candidates-react-to-romney-decision/

January 30, 2015

He worked tirelessly in 2008 and 2012 to try to turn our country around,” Cruz said. “Regardless of whether he is a candidate, Governor Romney will continue to be a respected leader having a positive impact on our national discourse.”


15 posted on 03/03/2016 6:30:54 AM PST by maggief
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To: VitacoreVision

Worthless rino scum like you are the reason for all the anger there mitt.


16 posted on 03/03/2016 6:31:14 AM PST by Joe Boucher
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To: VitacoreVision

Mitt is obviously a nutjob and a loser, generally.


17 posted on 03/03/2016 6:32:34 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: VitacoreVision
RomneyCare (TM)

The reason the Republican wing of the Uniparty lost in 2012. ANY conservative could have beat 0bama after 0bamaRomneyCare, EXCEPT EXACTLY ROMNEY!

18 posted on 03/03/2016 6:35:34 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (Trump's populisim isn't conservative, but will help destroy the Uniparty. JOIN AND ATTACK!)
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To: refermech

Oh yeah I voted for him too. What I couldn’t believe is how he backed off after the 1st debate with Obama. He made Obama look like well, what he really is in that one. The next two....bupkis. It was so obvious, a lot of speculation about that, even to this day.


19 posted on 03/03/2016 6:36:02 AM PST by V_TWIN
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To: V_TWIN

Don’t blame yourself. On paper he should have been a solid candidate. Turns out that Mitt was a great cheerleader, for Obama, and our grand ole party of fail.


20 posted on 03/03/2016 6:36:44 AM PST by catbertz
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