50 years ago there weren’t the expensive test and treatments that exist today. They couldn’t keep really premature babies, or very old people, alive with therapies costing millions. It was a different world.
I think what Romney figured, to the extent I was paying attention at the time, is that the taxpayers were already paying for the care of the uninsured, either through state insurance programs, or from the cost-shifting taking place when the uninsured would show up at a hospital emergency room and either give a phony name or just skip out on the bill. In fact, one of the reasons that medical bills are currently so high — in addition to the increasing exotic and expensive treatments — is the existence of the free-riders.
No free care for anyone, let them expire!!!
Pay or die!