The lessons of Romney’s governorship and Presidential run are still being learned, but the legacy of his Health Care Plan is one that makes Conservatives uncomfortable and Liberals gleeful with Mitt’s apparent contradictions.
Mitt’s latest tour promoting his book, No Apologies, is in full thrust. He has been making the entire interview circuit. Interviewers are often quick to ask the former Massachusetts Governor about Romneycare, hoping to make Mitt squirm. His answers are calm and often specific. He speaks of more people being covered under his plan, skyrocketing costs slowing down per year and his plan being a real bipartisan approach to a problem. .
To be honest, I supported Romney over McCain or Huckabee for the Republican nomination, and if the election were being held today with the same three front runners, I would do the same thing. I believe that he still would have been the best of the three and that he would have had the best chance for defeating Obama. Obviously, there is no way to prove my theory. Having said that, I am uncomfortable with Mitt’s Health Care Reform. From a Conservative (dare I say slightly libertarian) view the Massachusetts plan is simply too big and too intrusive for me. The strange thing is that there was little attempt at a more free market attempt to do the same thing but without forcing everyone to buy insurance, without the dependence on federal money that Romneycare needs to stay afloat. Federal money comprises fifty percent of the Massachusetts Health Care budget.
On several points the Romney plan sounds like the President’s Obamacare, except nobody is calling the Health Care plans before Congress, “bipartisan,” while keeping a strait face anymore. Still Mitt has some trouble with his message, when he criticizes Obamacare and defends Romneycare. He can try to dance around the issue, and joke around it but the issue still stands there, looking back at the well qualified former Governor. The only argument that can be made in support of Romney Care that carries any weight, is despite the short coming of the Massachusetts Health Plan, it is only in Massachusetts. This could be the only comfort to Conservatives, in that Romney insists that any such decision should be left to the States.
If you don’t like Romneycare, move to Connecticut, New Hampshire or some other surrounding State, or you can flee to the other side of the country. If there is a Federal attempt at the same thing, where will you run?
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