BREAKING: Mitt Romney Urged Obama to Embrace the Individual Mandate

Red State ^ | March 2, 2012 | Erick Erickson

[red flanker]

Had Michigan not been as close, the Democrats would have waited to spring this on us in the general election. Luckily we have it now and I hope Ohio voters are paying attention.

In July 2009, Mitt Romney wrote an op-ed in USA Today urging Barack Obama to usean individual mandate at the national level to control healthcare costs.

On the campaign trail now, Mitt Romney says the individual mandate is appropriate for Massachusetts, but not the nation. Repeatedly in debates, Romney has said he opposes a national individual mandate.

But back in 2009, as Barack Obama was formulating his healthcare vision for the country, Mitt Romney encouraged him publicly to use an individual mandate. In his op-ed, Governor Romney suggested that the federal government learn from Massachusetts how to make healthcare available for all.

[Sirius Lee]

I want every one to be responsible for their own health care expense.

And I want everyone to be responsible for their own weight. That's why I want a federal mandate for healthy food - you don't have to eat it, but you have to buy it. Also, I want people to be responsible in their use of energy. That's why I want a federal mandate that everybody purchase a Chevy Zolt, whether they drive or not.

I am 100% against government involvement in our personal lives, but I consider myself a fiscal conservative and want the federal government to tell everybody else what to buy, because the Constitution is wrong and freedom is too dangerous for the little people to enjoy.

[kabar]

Newt supported the individual mandate as did the Heritage Foundation. Romney is no surprise. These are big government republicans. We need to roll back the welfare state, not make it run more efficiently and cheaply.

[kabar]

Obamacare will add 18 million to the Medicaid rolls, which already has 60 million covered. So the taxpayer will be stuck with the bill. And only 50% of the people pay income taxes.

40% of doctors don't accept Medicaid patients now and 12% don't accept Medicare patients. We are going to have greater coverage and less access under Obamacare along with higher health insurance prices. The idea is to kill off the private insurers and go to a single payer system like Medicare. That was the objective of Obamacare all along.

[Cato in PA]

Just when you thought he couldn’t get any worse.

I’m struggling here, fellow FReepers, I really am. If Romney becomes the nominee, there is literally not a single clear avenue of attack he can take against Obama.

Romney signed off on universal healthcare.

Now, we find out that he encouraged Obama to adopt the individual mandate.

And don’t forget that working at Bain Capital was just like the bailouts!

Contraception? He was too lily-livered to give any kind of answer in the GOP debates. I doubt he’d do any better in a debate with Obongo.

Abortion? All they have to do is play clips from the Ted Kennedy debates.

Quoting Reagan? Again, play the clip from the Ted Kennedy debates.

Posing as a conservative? Play that clip of him saying “my views are progressive.”

Gay marriage? He’d bend over backwards to gush over his accomplishments for the queer agenda. Don’t forget that he told voters how real progress could be made by him, as a Republican, since he’d sound like a “reasonable moderate.”

He can’t claim to be a “man of the people” in a populist election due to his embarrassing gaffes that show how out of touch he is with everyday Americans.

Now you tell me: what the hell is he supposed to run on besides platitudes and hair gel? What?

[VictoryGal]

I actually am hearing people -- good solid conservative FRiends -- in other threads starting to capitulate to voting for this consummate serial liar in the general.

I have just posted this in my profile:

Why I am NEVER voting for Romney, even if he is the GOP nominee (shudder)

Many people, online and in-person, have started to shrug and say, "Oh well. Looks like Romney's gonna get the Republican nomination. I'll have to hold my nose and vote for him, like I voted for McCain.and all the other RINOs the GOP have shoved at us. After all, if he's only 80-90% like Obama then he's at least a little better than him, right?"

WRONG. and here’s why.

If Myth does 90% of what Zer0 does, he will do it WITH AN R NEXT TO HIS NAME.

What does this do? Well, Republicans in Congress who would otherwise balk at lib legislation if it were proposed by Zer0 WILL SIGN ON TO THE LEGISLATION BECAUSE IT IS PROPOSED BY THE LEADER OF THE GOP.

Imagine: amnesty, “tax fairness”, gutting the military and so much more ALL SAILING THROUGH CONGRESS because a “Republican” is at the helm of America. Contrast this with a second Obozo presidency where the GOP will dig in their heels and at least try to fight.

Yeah, I said it. An Obummer presidency is better for America than a Myth presidency (in the way that a cowpie sandwich is better than a meal of broken glass).

This is why we have to have a NOT-ROMNEY at the top of the ticket if we are to have any hope of digging America out of this hole we’re in. And if we don't, God help us... but I still WON'T vote for him. I'll vote for whichever acceptable, conservative 3rd party candidate is running (so my protest vote will have the most impact), or I'll write one in.

As JimRob says. Romneycare = Obamacare = Commiecare. NO ROMNEY, NO WAY!!

[VictoryGal]

>Oh good grief. Really? Googling USA Today for an old op-ed passes for opposition research and/or investigative journalism these days?

>Really sad.

What’s sad is that the American people don’t see what’s right in front of them. Even conservatives who are supposed to be paying attention.

There are a lot of people ON THIS FORUM who are going to vote for this weasel in the general. How can they when it’s plain what kind of a duplicitous scumbag Myth is???

[tutstar]

bttt

[avacado]

Your post is hilarious! You think the mandate is going to lower the cost of health insurance? 30 million people will be forced to buy health insurance. Many of which are too poor and will be able to get their health insurance policy for free under ObamaCare. Me and you will pick up the cost via higher premiums. Nothing changes. We’re still paying for the bums.

[Da Bilge Troll]

Why must the hospital go through lot of legal expense to try to recover the unpaid bills?

For the same reason Mastercard has to go through lots of legal expenses to recover unpaid bills.

[Bikkuri]

Exactly.. I said something similar many months ago.. and stand by it. I will do a write in for Palin if Newt doesn’t make it. We need to flush out all of the moderates and posers from our side.. and I will not put a wolf in sheep’s clothing in office to damage (R) more than has already been done.

[DestroyLiberalism]

In fairness, the Heritage Foundation dropped its support for individual mandates many years ago after further research led them to determine that the costs associated with such a measure would be out-of-control and unsustainable.

[DestroyLiberalism]

Mariner wrote:
<<
I don’t think this is news. Romney has always been known to support this position. Hell, the Op-ed was in USA today.

What’s breaking about this? Romney is a statist and Obamacare was modeled after Romneycare.
>>

**************************************************************

Yes, but Romney keeps claiming in the debates that he doesn’t support individual mandates on a NATIONAL level, yet in his own op-ed published in USA Today several years ago he URGED OBAMA to implement an individual mandate!

[Hilda]

You mean Mitt Romney is saying things he doesn’t mean?

Who knew?

[Greysard]

I have no problem with the self-insured, individuals or groups.But they have to show they are sufficiently capitalized. Don't expect anyone to bail you out if you run out of $$.

"Showing" someone that you have "enough" money requires an overseer, a despot. Traditionally you only needed the marketplace to find out if the buyer has enough money.

Also note that traditional insurance companies can out of money at any time. They won't run out of money in the bank - but they can run out of *your account's* money. They will not deliver an infinite amount of financing to treat you; it is not even mathematically possible.

This means that all medical services are limited in scope. A self-insured person is not any different from an insurance company; both aren't willing (or capable) of paying too much.

It is much easier to charge money for all services that a commercial entity offers. Those who can pay do pay; those who have no money have to depend on a credit. If there is no credit there is no treatment. Illegals can surrender to DHS, get treated there and deported. Poor but healthy citizens will be required to do community work until their debt is paid off. Poor and sick citizens will be supported by taxpayers.

Anyway, Obamacare has a big problem with self-insured people. It will not be permitted on an individual level, and will be restricted to a couple of named groups on a group level.

So how do you feel about car insurance? Should we allow any yahoo to run around without liability insurance?

You do not have to buy a car insurance. First, you don't have to buy a car in the first place. Second, if you do own a car, you don't need to buy your car insurance from an insurance company. There are other options. You can deposit $35K with the DMV; you can be self-insured (requires that you prove to DMV that you have money); you can also get a private surety bond for the same $35K.

I personally buy my car insurance, but that's because it is cheaper this way. I think I pay $300/yr for one car. That is 0.85% of the $35K. If I have the $35K I would be far better off investing the money because I can get anywhere between 3% and 5% from municipal bonds, for example. But this choice is mine and mine alone. Obamacare takes this choice away from me.

[ourworldawry]

“To my post above let me add that I am 100% in favor of PRIVATE insurance only. I am 100% against government run health service of any kind.”

That’s how people with SENSE, would think.

[entropy12]

You have very little sense of financial proportion.
A Mastercard has spending limits, typically 5 to 10K dollars.

A single hospital bill for a week’s stay is well over $120,000. Obviously you are not well versed in financial world.

[entropy12]

Your post is hilarious. Obamacare is 2800 pages. I am against 96.5% of Obamacare. Mandate I am talking about is for catastrophic hospitaql charges which you can not afford without insurance.

[entropy12]

Think logical. It will help you succeed in life. Your weight does not cost me anything. Your hospital stay without insurance costs me higher insurance premiums.

[entropy12]

I agree completely....government should get out of running Medicare & Medicaid. I am on Medicare and it is getting harder every year to find doctors who will take new patients.

[trappedincanuckistan]

Think logically. It will help you succeed in life. The government that forces you to buy health insurance will later be dictating what insurance policies should cover, how much they should cost........

Your brand of incremental statism is no better than theirs.