Posted on 07/09/2009 6:05:03 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Former GOP Governor Helped Make 2006 Reform Reality.
BOSTON -- Three years after the inception of Massachusetts’ landmark health reform legislation, which required every citizen to buy insurance, NewsCenter 5’s Ed Harding wondered what former Gov. Mitt Romney, a key political architect of the plan, thought of its progress. Call it protecting his legacy, well-earned pride, or seeing the glass as half-full, but Romney says Massachusetts deserves an ‘A.’
“It’s working like we had hoped it would work,” the one-time republic presidential candidate said. “We got nearly everybody in Massachusetts health insurance, which really, something people didn't think was possible.”
Romney said the same can be done nationwide, though he concedes what many in the Bay State are grappling with now, that the hardest part of the reform debate is controlling costs. It is projected that within a decade health care will account for 20 percent of all money spent in the United States.
Currently, health care accounts for between 17 and 18 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product.
“It’s huge,” said Romney. “We’ve got two challenges. One is to get everybody insured. Believe it or not that's the relatively easy job. The other job is to reign in the inflation associated with health care. We can do that too but it's a lot of work.”
Romney points to a recent analysis by the pro-reform Massachusetts Taxpayers’ Association, showing that since near-universal coverage was implemented in 2006, state taxpayers have had to shell out an additional $88 million per year to insure an additional 430,000 citizens.
“Some people say. ‘Oh, it's expensive,’ but actually, it cost less than two percent of the state budget.”
Romney is closely following the reform debate in Washington, DC, and pointed to President Barack Obama’s proposal for a government-run so-called public plan option as a “big mistake.”
“The current system with over 1,000 insurers in this country, is perfectly capable adequate to provide choice to people in America,” Romney said.
The former governor declined to answer when Harding asked if health care is a right of a privilege in the United States. He did insist, however, that on a national level politicians ought to be able to create a system where every citizen has health insurance.
Screw you Romney!
Nice! :)
Precisely!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqD-nMpsYAY&
Every Rommbot should have to watch this video... Every socialist leaning American should also...
Super-rino indeed. Except nothing super about him, unless you count the deficits he piles up.
Well then..... get out there and vote in the primary and get everyone you know to vote in the primary. If he doesn’t get the votes he won’t be the candidate, but as long as 8 - 12% is all that votes in the primaries, frankly he will stand a good shot because he WILL turn out the vote; it is up to us to push back at the polls.
Is Romney the RINO or would Reagan be the RINO if still alive? Hasn’t the Republican Party simply become an alternate liberal party? I can almost hear Reagan saying, “I didn’t leave the Republicans, they left me.”
The difference between McCain and Romney is that McCain is right on some issues like national defense and with Romney who knows what he will be for tomorrow if he thinks it could get him votes.
Keep talking Mitt, the more you do the better Sarah looks to the mushy middle.
I hope NOT to ever read another pro Romney remark again here at FR. The guy is in the wrong Political Party.
Oh and lest I forget, everyone’s policy must cover things like abortion. Even if you are past child bearing age, or you are a male.
CBO Says Medicaid Expansion Would Cost $500 Billion
The American Spectator | July 8, 2009 | Philip Klein
Posted on 07/08/2009 5:57:07 PM PDT by pleikumud
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2288503/posts
The trick is to be conservative, but show independents and moderates why they are in fact conservative and don’t realize it - which is what Reagan did. How else did he win New England, MD, IL, and the PNW?
The others like Romney or Crist reak of their party affiliation. They really have no other credential, certainly not conservative. Giuliani could at least say he “governed as a conservative” as he rebuilt NYC and have some meaningful cred on the meat and potatoes issues.
At this point, though, Palin has no chance of winning the Republican nomination because the insiders will block her every step of the way. She COULD win the general as a Republican but never mind that. I think she actually could win as an indie candidate in 2012, when Obamsky will be in tatters with all but his most leftist base and the Repubs are sure to nominate some sort of alternative liberal. Under that formulation, you could have as much as 40 percent of the vote available to Palin in even some of the big blue states.
Good grief. Someone here was just claiming yesterday that Romney is a federalist, and that Romney did not want the feds involved with health care. I imagine defending this guy, and keeping up with his latest statements, would feel like a losing battle.
Meanwhile, whatever happened to the Romney-Jeb Bush-Eric Cantor “listening tour?” Partnership for a New America, was it?
Meanwhile, whatever happened to the Romney-Jeb Bush-Eric Cantor “listening tour?” Partnership for a New America, was it?
Without all the govt. intervention and insurance bs, that should have been a 40. to 60. charge.
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