I had a very liberal sociology professor at the time and had to eventually use some creative phrasing to keep my GPA up to snuff, because he’s a liberal soc professor at a community college so no one is surprised that anything that hinted at a conservative approach could be allowed past the threshold. I worded a paper with such subtly sarcastic stabs at socialized medicine that it was too much like a glowing recommendation and I hope it will never be found again.
He kept referring to it as healthcare reform, everyone did, and it is the version of healthcare reform that passed. I know that the Republicans had their own versions (and have had their own versions for awhile) but that’s the one that passed.
Because that’s the one that passed, that’s the one that Romney’s talking about when he says he would keep some aspects of it. This is old news anyway, we know what his own plan involves. But, he worded things in a way that allows for some wiggle room on exactly what of those two parts he would keep. Like I said before, he had to support those two aspects. You can’t really win the presidency with a quote of “Yep, I want people with pre-existing conditions and college students under 26 to not have guaranteed access to health insurance.”
First of all, Newsmax has put words in Romney's mouth that he did not utter. It's a discredited "news outlet" with a penchant for inaccuracy that gives conservative press outlets a bad name. To me, this is the thrust of all my commentary on this thread.
Secondly, the two aspects of health care reform you've mentioned were also in Romneycare, but with restrictions. Since he was the architect of this plan, I think it's far more likely that the "health care reform" he's referencing, if he's really referencing something specific, is his own.
But I don't buy into that line of thinking. I think that since he's a businessman with extreme leadership qualities, he's looking at the implementation of "health care reform" as a problem to be solved with all solutions on the table, coming down strongly on the side of business. I think he'll have to favor free-market solutions to the problem, if only to draw distinctions between himself and the President's unpopular policy. I think he was trying to do that today, and I think he succeeded...which is why the mainstream media has picked up the "I want to keep part of Obamacare" angle...a blatant lie. It's an attempt to divide and discourage conservatives and depress Republican voter turnout.
And the trolls here are having a field day with it.