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Questions for Mitt Romney on RomneyCare

I am more interested in what he actually did

By: Soren Dayton (Diary)  |  May 12th, 2011 at 11:02 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Later today, Mitt Romney will be giving a speech about ObamaCare. My first thought when I heard this was that it was a great way to change the subject from his own record in Massachusetts. After all, the question is really about what Mitt Romney did and what he learned about it.

Therefore, I submit some questions to his campaign and I urge the press to ask them:

  1. If you were to run for and be elected Governor of Massachusetts would your first act be a repeal of Romneycare?
  2. Which parts of Romneycare do you still like?
  3. For which states do you think Romneycare would be a good model? What is different about those states?
  4. When did you change your mind and begin opposing federal individual mandates, considering that you like mandates and believe they work?
  5. Why did you change your mind on a federal mandate?
  6. Why did you sign a bill that covers abortions?
  7. Why did you sign a bill that would explode government costs without doing a single thing to offset them?
  8. Why did you completely eliminate competition in the health care marketplace by limiting the number of insurance plans?
  9. Why did you think that government was best positioned to negotiate rates with insurance companies instead of letting the market work?
  10. What would you say to small business owners who now have 6 more pages of rules and regulations on their tax forms thanks to Romneycare?
  11. Do you still think that Romneycare is a model for the nation?
  12. When did you change your mind about any of the above questions? Was it about the same time that it became politically convenient for you to do so?
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COMMENTS

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  • 20jan2013
  • http://theminorityreportblog.com Repair_Man_Jack

    “Mandates work. I like mandates.”

    Mitt Romney 2011

    “Federalism works. It takes my butt off the hook!”

    • Jim Tomasik

      I hope I remember how to do this:

      • http://theminorityreportblog.com Repair_Man_Jack

        I would actually like it. But considering Romney’s history, I’m just not quite convinced for some reason….

  • GOP84

    Romney vetoed several parts of that legislation and was overridden by the Mass legislature. There was also a lot done to MassCare after Romney left office.This also explains the problem with costs.

    Nevermind the fact that Romney is the first candidate to articulate a comprehensive plan to replace ObamaCare. Nevermind the fact that by all accounts, MassCare remains simply a state program that was crafted with assistance from the Heritage Foundation and was initially favored by the Wall Street Journal.

    I know RS can be a little slanted against Romney, but fairness is always nice and appreciated.

  • BigRedConservative

    Jim DeMint, Rick Santorum, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and Judge Bork all endorsed Romney in 2008, knowing full well that “he loves mandates”. Can we stop associating with them as well?

    • Remington_Steele
    • aesthete

      for supporting Romney — their reasons for being famous and liked by conservatives are quite apart from that. Romney’s claim to fame is RomneyCare — of course he should be evaluated based on its success and failure, especially since he’s still defending it as a good program.

      • BrendanW

        Romney is most known for being a businessman, then a gov, then RomneyCare. Democrats trying to get support for OC have used RC, and Republicans that don’t like Romney have gone along for the ride, increasing his recent press around RC, which is now becoming well known.

        The problem Romney has: his best chance for winning is as a candidate that can fix the spending issues in Washington (Mr. Fix It.) Unfortunately RomneyCare is ipso facto proof for many that he’s not capable of doing that without compromising too much with the left. And saying RomneyCare is a mistake, reinforces his worse negative trait of looking politically expedient in his positions.

        So I think he has a dilemma: needs to be mr. fix it, but that would require repudiating RomneyCare, but that would reinforce the negative ‘changes with the wind’ meme.

        I lived in MA during his tenure, and I recall him doing a lot of cutting to balance budget and build rainy day fund – work three prior republican governors hadn’t done, and it made him very unpopular with libs. Also I know large parts of RomneyCare were changed by legislature after the fact (I think by over ruling his veto) – so marginal analysis: RomneyCare versus hypothetical DevalCare, is it really worse? Would Deval have unleashed single payer perhaps? Who knows… gotta take into account situation. None of that helps with the Pres Campaign, voters in Iowa, NH, and SC are unlikely to care about that kind of inside baseball analysis.

  • RebelRoss0587

    If you missed the presentation, the powerpoint is now available at http://mittromneycentral.com/2011/05/12/in-case-you-missed-it-slides-from-romneys-speech-on-health-care-video-to-follow-soon/

  • utahtim

    Looking forward, Romney’s health care plan for the nation (e.g., ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, strengthening of HSAs, Medicare block grants to the States) and the pledge to waive Obamacare for all 50 states while fighting for its repeal sounds good. I supported Romney in 2008, but haven’t made up my mind this time around. We have a different field, and I’d like to hear the health care plans of the other candidates. Where are they?