How Romneycare Became Obamacare
Here's a headline that Team Romney would rather not be waking up to this morning:
White House used Mitt Romney health-care law as blueprint for federal law
Three advisers to GOP candidate met a dozen times with senior Obama officials, records show
President Obama has frequently said Obamacare was modeled on Romneycare. Last April, Romney asked why Obama hadn't brought him in to discuss it, then. Well, Romney wasn't invited in but NBC news is reporting that several of the people who drafted Romneycare were, such as:
“The White House wanted to lean a lot on what we’d done in Massachusetts,” said Jon Gruber, an MIT economist who advised the Romney administration on health care and who attended five meetings at the Obama White House in 2009, including the meeting with the president. “They really wanted to know how we can take that same approach we used in Massachusetts and turn that into a national model.” ...
In addition to Obama himself, the meetings attended by Gruber were presided over by the president’s chief economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, then budget director Peter Orzag and Nancy-Ann DeParle, the president’s chief adviser on health care, the records show. Gruber was also given a $380,000 contract by the Obama administration in 2009 to work with Congress on drafting a new federal law based on the Massachusetts law, records show.
How much does news like this bother Ricocheters? Do you buy Romney's argument that Romneycare is great at the state level but not nationally and that each state should come up with its own entitlement program? Do all of the problems with Romneycare mean anything?
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Aug '10
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.:
How much does news like this bother Ricocheters? Do you buy Romney's argument that Romneycare is great at the state level but not nationally and that each state should come up with its own entitlement program? Do all of the problems with Romneycare mean anything? ·
Not at all, no and no, yes.
I guess that I am most shocked that here is a clear case where Pres Obama told the truth and can prove it - that the administration used Romneycare as a model of Obamacare.
Since all of these programs do not spring completely whole from the head of their namesake, but instead rely on staffs to put them together - what Romney is really complaining about is that he wasn't invited to the Photo-Op.
State entitlement programs are like what is currently going on in Europe, where one entitlement program (Greece's) is consuming the fruits of others (Germany, et al). Consider what will happen here when California goes into their own debt crisis.
The problems with Romneycare - and Mitt's unwillingness to admit they are legion - mean simply that Mitt lacks the judgement to be President.
His is better than Obama's, however.
Jul '10
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
That Romneycare was similar to and as bad an idea as Obamacare is no surprise, and it is also not surprising that Obama's people looked to Romney's people for advice. So for Romney detractors within the Republican Party, this should not change much.
That said, I think it's pretty obvious that the Obama Administration is just trying to take out the candidate they're most worried about. They would much rather campaign against Perry, who can be lampooned by the Obama Campaign and the mainstream media (though I guess they're one in the same, really) to no end. The Obama people are making crystal clear how afraid they are of Mitt Romney.
Sep '10
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
There is not much that is crystal clear about Romney except that he will do and say about anything to try to get elected. No one can claim they know what he would do as President and that includes Romney. I think however it is fairly certain he will tend toward government solutions as he has in the past. This revelation will do little damage simply because those who support him want a big government Republican and those willing to hold their nose and pull the lever will do so no matter how bad the smell.
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
My views on this are too well known to Ricochet readers to need repeating. So I will only point out that there is one salient difference between Romneycare and Obamacare. There is nothing in Romneycare like the Connecticut Compromise, the Florida Flim-Flam, the Louisiana Purchase, and so forth. Romney is a man of executive temperament. He may be wrong-headed. But he is not incompetent.
Sep '11
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
I think Mitt needs to answer the question Obama needs to answer:
Does the Constitution permit Congress to require every American to purchase broccoli? Even those of us who do not wish to purchase broccoli? Can the state of Massachusetts require me to buy broccoli? (Each of these questions should be answered with a "yes" or "no." Any longer answer should be interpreted as deception.)
What are the practical limits defined by the 10th amendment? Do the limits of the 10th amendment pertain to the states? If you can be compelled to buy health insurance, what--and name a public policy initiative presently being championed by an interest group in Washington--does the 10th amendment prohibit?
26 states are suing to block ObamaCare--specifically because of the 10th amendment implications of the Individual Mandate. Assume the case will be held over to be argued in the spring of 2013. How will you instruct your Solicitor General to write an amicus curae brief on the issues of the case?
May '10
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
Perry was outraged, too, and weighed in with: "Governor Romney...er...flipper flop...before and then against it...uh...uh.........in Texas........zzzzzzzz."
Of course RomneyCare is a problem, but the man remains our least flawed candidate. It's a drag, but it's nonetheless true.
Jan '11
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
Trying to work out the reasoning behind this article:
1. Obamacare is a huge, stinking heap of FAIL.
2. Obamacare took some ideas from Romneycare.
3. So you should definitely NOT vote for the guy who gave Obama ideas.
4. Instead, you should vote for the guy who actually gave you this stinking heap of FAIL.
Do they really think this will work?
Aug '10
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
Mollie,
Amidst your constant drumbeat of negative articles about Romney, perhaps you could squeeze in just ONE article that casts a negative light on Gov Perry. I have read and posted several such articles so I know they're out there...
Edited on Oct 11, 2011 at 8:55amMar '11
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
It bothers me as little as, and as much as, Romneycare itself.
That is to say: Nothing in this story was a shocking revelation to me. We've known for some time that Obama's team patterned PPACA on the Massachusetts legislation.
Did anyone ever buy the line Romney dished out about "Obama should have called me?" Well, turns out some of his people talked to some of your people. But this doesn't change a thing, and we hadn't forgotten this legislation in the first place. So, we're back to square one: smack dab in the middle of a financial crisis trying to win the Presidency with suboptimal choices and Governor Romneycare might just be the least worst of the pack--but this issue isn't going away, and it isn't going to get any better.
(As an aside, as to the constitutional question, I am not a lawyer but I do not buy the Bachmann line here. State governments have more extensive authority in many fields and so I think the claim that the Massachusetts bill is constitutional in the commonwealth, but Obamacare is unconstitutional nationally can stand).
Jun '10
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
Now there's a ringing endorsement!
May '10
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
The primary designer of Romney's plan in Massachusetts was Edmund Hailsmaier of the Heritage Foundation. Got that? When he needed advice on how to put together a market-oriented health care plan in his state, he went to the most prominent conservative think tank. The goal was a consumer-based system with deregulated insurance policies that were market-priced.
The fundamental points 1) "Connector" enables purchase of private policies; 2) Ensuring everyone covered to prevent free riders; and 3) Choice.
The legislature capped the premium prices, and added ridiculous coverage mandates; everyone could visit the chiropractor of her choice three times a week and get it paid for. Remember, regarding the individual mandate- that is exactly what we do with driving licenses and auto insurance, all at the state level, which is quite constitutional under the state police power.
The fundamental principle is still not horrible- if the government has screwed up the market for health care, some form of insurance program is needed- but do it right.
I could make about three or four changes to RomneyCare, combine it with McCain's very good (Ryan-like) premium support proposal of 2008, and make it a solid, conservative program.
Aug '10
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
Since mandatory health insurance is a proper function of police power (your position) what sort of policing enforcement do you think is necessary?
Is the legal name of the crime, "Living without health insurance?"
Do you support the death penalty for not having health insurance? What legal penalties would you favor for not having health insurance?
Can the state make someone ineligible to live there based on their repeated refusal buy health insurance?
What if the person is wealthy enough to pay cash, is that allowed? How do you propose they prove it?
Say, even in taxachussets today, there are still 2% of the population without health insurance - do they get deported?
Driving is not living - one is a 'privilege' the other a 'right'. Equating cumpulsory health insurance with compulsory auto insurance is a legal fallacy.
May '10
Re: How Romneycare Became Obamacare
Instugator, I said that the insurance mandate is constitutional under the state police power. Your characterization is inaccurate and does not reflect my statement. Like it or not, in the world of EMTALA, as further extended by other case law, free-riding is a problem. This is fundamental and has been pointed out by every conservative and Republican health care proposal.
Federal individual mandates under the commerce clause are unconstitutional. A mandate to state under the federal taxing and spending power that they require citizens to be "insured" in the same way that drivers are may not be our favorite policy, but it is unquestionably constitutional. The reason Obama didn't go that way is because he didn't want the bill to be called a "tax" for political reasons and because that delegation of authority to the states gave up too much centralized power.
"Insurance coverage" for drivers is not necessarily insurance. Many states, including my own, require that you show proof of insurance or personal responsibility by posting a large bond. Smart people buy very high deductible liability insurance because it is cost effective. There is no reason that health care can't work the same way.