Posted on 05/19/2011 8:32:27 AM PDT by jazusamo
(CNSNews.com) – Speaking to Democratic contributors near Boston Wednesday, President Barack Obama gave a tip of the hat to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney – a potential opponent in the 2012 presidential race -- for an “assist” in passing national health care reform.
“Our work isn’t done. Yes, we passed health care with an assist from a former Massachusetts governor,” Obama said to laughter at the Democratic National Committee gathering in Brookline, Mass.
“Great idea,” Obama added, to more laughter. He never mentioned Romney by name.
Democrats and Obama administration officials frequently invoke Romney in defense of their health care plan – an apparent attempt to drive a wedge between Romney and conservative Republicans, who like neither Obamacare nor Romneycare.
Last week, Romney defended the Massachusetts plan he signed in 2006, which became the model for the Democrats’ Affordable Care Act. The Massachusetts plan, like Obamacare, includes an individual mandate to purchase health insurance and health insurance exchanges of government-approved plans.
In an April 2010 interview with CBS News, Obama defended the Democrats’ health care law, saying it was similar to the “sort of plan proposed by current Republican nominee Mitt Romney.”
Obama said implementing the law would be “difficult.” He said getting coverage for more people was only part of the job, along with driving down costs – “just like Massachusetts is now working on; working on delivery system reform; making sure that the 20 percent of patients who are chronically ill but account for 80 percent of the costs, that they’re getting better care; making sure that health IT is working so that the system is more efficient and has less waste. That’s going to require us rolling up our sleeves and paying attention to the hard details of policy.”
Romney’s support for the Massachusetts health care plan is considered a stumbling block in his quest for the Republican presidential nomination.
Last week in Ann Arbor, Mich., an early primary state, Romney tackled the subject head-on, but he refused to disown his Massachusetts plan, despite political pressure to do so.
“There's only one problem with that,” Romney said. “It wouldn’t be honest. I, in fact, did what I believe was right for the people of my state.”
Romney defended the Massachusetts health plan as “a state solution to a state problem,” while Obama’s health care plan was “a power grab by the federal government to put in place a one-size-fits plan across the nation.”
The Massachusetts health care plan reduced the number of uninsured to just 2.6 percent of the state’s population. However, state government spending on health care has increased 42 percent since 2006 and the program’s costs have been one-third higher than projected, according to a 2009 analysis by the National Center for Policy Analysis, a free-market think tank.
According to the NCPA, 51 percent of Massachusetts residents required to purchase insurance said they are paying more for health care, while 14 percent of those required to buy insurance said they are paying less.
Meanwhile, a survey of 15 cities found that Boston had the longest waiting time for patients to see a doctor -- double the average waiting time for the second-place city, Philadelphia.
Romney or Newt are about the only candidates that would let Bummer win.
Which makes them the two favorite candidates of the Republican establishment.
Which means Hussein is WORRIED about a Romney candidacy. Seems to me this is foolish!! After all, Romney is a DEDICATED RINO around whom the base would NOT rally!!! Were I Hussein ,I would WANT to face Romney, knowing he would be as limp-wristed as Juan McCain. Romney would endorse Hussein, as McCain did, castigate fellow Republicans—especially conservatives—should they criticize Hussein and be a typically spineless, ineffective puss and sell-out.
Too many Republican primary voters will never understand and think Mittens is the One!
You already wrote what I was thinking. The problem is the lame-brained Republican primary voters.
People who do not follow blogs, Rush or this web site have no clue about Romney. I have friends who think he is the greatest, I had to bring up Herman Cain and Bachmann last night to get them thinking along different lines. There is a lot of education that must happen between now and fall.
Possibly, but with more outspoken conservatives, the Tea Party and the Internet it may not be as easy to fool GOP voters as Zer0 thinks.
lol couple of progressives ...
Is she running? So far she has not announced. Snide comments on this forum seem to be favored by many, including you friend. We need to stick together and get this man out of our house, not attack each other.
Yes it does.
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