Posted on 08/31/2007 8:20:43 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
AIKEN, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney focused Friday on stopping illegal immigration and keeping Washington out of increased health care coverage.
During a morning campaign stop in Aiken, Romney said he doesn't want the federal government to take over providing health care for the nation's uninsured.
"Don't have 'Hillary Care,'" Romney said, referring to his favorite Democrat target, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The former Massachusetts governor said he doesn't want to "have the guys who ran the Katrina cleanup" in charge of health care. He said he'd leave it up to states to design their own systems.
Romney had several stops planned in this early voting state Friday, and some were to take him through counties with some of South Carolina's largest immigrant populations.
Romney said he'd help stop illegal immigrants by sanctioning employers that give them paychecks, and oppose so-called sanctuary cities that give illegal immigrants housing and other benefits.
Funny, he has no problem mandating insurance and covering the costs for those who can’t afford it.
The “drumbeat” for health care being an issue in this election continues. It will be hard for any candidate to stand up and say my plan is to have no plan.
Well, I don’t like what he did here in Massachusetts on health care.
But I do like that he doesn’t see a role for the federal government in it. And as president, that would be his focus.
Doctors came up with the idea of same day surgery in an effort to control costs. Now the Feds say since it is cheaper than hospital care we will only pay $.60 on the dollar.
And he wants to spend more federal money on cancer research.
“He said he’d leave it up to states to design their own systems. “
I think he’ll mandate that the states have comprehensive health care systems, give a deadline, provide block grants for the development and deployment, and threaten to pull highway funds of they don’t. He won’t tell them what type of comprehensive system to have other than that it covers everyone in the state. That would fit the letter of what his words now are, and would be consistent with the system he installed in his state.
Any state could have any system they want, which is the status quo now. Mitt is hinting around that he’ll change the status quo, using his power as president. We’ll have 50 state health programs run by and paid for by the states, rather than one federal system.
Mitt realizes we are a republic, not a democracy.
His support of the ‘assault weapons ban’ is enough for me to give him no attention.
"Massachusetts in 2002 was spending an enormous amount of public money on health care--and yet leaving almost one 10th of its population uncovered. Romney became more and more interested in this problem and demanded a detailed survey of the uninsured population."
"The big surprise revealed by Romney's investigation: The uninsured were not as poor as everybody had assumed they were. A majority of them could have bought health insurance if they wanted to--they chose not to buy, because they regarded health insurance as a bad deal. It cost too much...It covered too much. And everybody knew that even if you did not buy it, hospitals would care for you all the same." (Could This Man Be the Next U.S. President?, David Frum, January 10, 2007)
Under federal law, nearly all hospitals are required to provide a certain level of treatment to all patients who visit their emergency rooms, regardless of those patients’ ability to pay. Governor Romney sought a way to prevent the free-rider problem: those who take advantage of emergency services and then skip out on the charges, leaving taxpayers to cover the bill. In a very real sense, we already have “universal healthcare” in the U.S., but many are not paying their share of the cost for the services they receive.
I have no idea what Romney would do. take any issue and you can find he has supported both sides.
So you did not vote for Reagan (Brady Bill) or Bush (AWB) either?
No it’s not preferable. It is a huge step to socialized medicine. A better plan would be to deregulate the federal and state mandates and let insurance companies compete. In my state, they mandated that ALL health care plans offered must cover sh*t like abortions, birth control, mental health, etc, etc. 70% of insurers left the state and the prices syrocketed. THAT explains why so many do not have coverage.
These people refuse to understand that the driving force behind soaring costs for healthcare is GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT.
Brady bill, though I did not approve of it, is a far cry from the AWB. Bush let the AWB expire without a word of protest (he actually has a stellar record on the 2A). GWB was not responsible for the AWB becoming law, either and to the best of my knowledge did not pursue one in Texas.
I like Hunter’s idea of trying to get states to deregulate so a citizen can get insurance from any provider in the country.
I can’t wait for Romney to debate Hillary on health care!!!
That is precisely Step #1 in Romney's plan. You haven't read the actual plan, have you?
Romney understands that we cannot allow the dems to own this issue as it is a huge concern for middle America. His proposed plan is substantially better than the one enacted in Masschusetts. The liberal legislature overrode eight of his vetoes altering his original plan. Here's a more viewable version of his current plan in a power point format:
The Romney Vision: Health Care Reform Goals
• First, Instituting Reforms That Make Private Health Insurance Affordable. More Americans need access to quality, private health insurance.
• Second, Providing Access To Quality Health Insurance For Every American.
• Third, Enhancing The Portability Of Private Health Insurance.
• Finally, Slowing The Rate Of Inflation In Health Care Spending.
Linking Goals With Action Steps:
The Federalist Approach -- Governor Romney's Approach To Health Care Reform Is One That Values The States As Laboratories Of Innovation And Beacons Of Creativity.
The Romney Plan: Six Action Steps
• Step 2: Redirect Federal Spending On "Free Care" To Help The Low-Income Uninsured Purchase Private Insurance.
• Step 3: Institute Health Savings Account (HSA) Enhancements And The Full Deductibility Of Qualified Medical Expenses.
• Step 4: Promote Innovation In Medicaid.
• Step 5: Implement Medical Liability Reform.
• Step 6: Bring Market Dynamics And Modern Technology To Health Care.
Thank you for posting this but as usual it will be hijacked since it deals positively with Romney.
As far as I can tell, Romney is the only GOP candidate with a real plan and with a real record on the issue. The others are blowing hot air.
I can’t wait for Romney to debate Hillary on health care!!!
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lol,, soon we may, ya never know.. Too bad they don’t have a debate by opponents before the primary, it would give a better sense of the candidates and their strengths and failings and how they flirt with folly..
It would be nice to just cut to the chase and get this perpetual political season over with..
Looks like another cooker out your way, you get thunderbumpers last night? .. I saw FResno had some electrical activity, lightning and such, flash flood warnings in effect today too in the Inland valleys again..
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