Mitt Romney on. In Michigan. Thank everyone for coming in. He went to Michigan State, he says. Says like being home. Will talk about repealing ObamaCare. Comparison of his plan with ObamaCare. Talk about Massachussetts plan. We are Free Enterprise Country. We have a Federal system, not a centralized system.
Tailored to people of state, not a one size fits all system.
Obama doesn't trust this. His plan is a state plan as a state problem. Obama went to centralized system, one size fits all. Takeover of health care. His plan didn't take over health care. Obama raised taxes to fund his plan.
Similarity, the mandate.
Actually, all this is in his book. Just repeating it here.
Ninety four percent already covered. About half a million not covered. Four hundred thousand got insurance. The other 94% didn't have any change. Independent think tank that reform cost was modest, less than 1 percent per year of state budget. Did all this without a tax increase.
Why repeal? Pro: Highest quality in world. Con: High cost, non portable. President plan detracts from quality of health care, reduces choice, repels best and brightest. "Don't go into medicine" because of government's heavy hand. Discourages innovation. Economic nightmare. Raise taxes, diverts Medicare funds, and kill jobs. Business less likely to hire people. One reason recession taking so long. Massive spending, power grab.
Would grant waivers to all 50 states. Then work to repeal it.
His plan starts with same elements. Do no harm. Strengthen current system. Portability. Choice. Expand care and access to care. ( In book)
States will have a lot of discretion in how they will implement plan. Enpower individuals. Greater consumer choice. Make it portable too. Costs should come down. Cap damages in malpractice suits. Make it work more like a market. Health savings accounts. Support innovations like co insurance.
How to get costs down. Free market principles, basically.
Does a point by point comparison between his and Obama's. He is actually saying he is running for President. Has he formally declared his candidacy yet?
Q&A session. Stop here.
Update: Wall Street Journal Online has a critical article about RomneyCare right here. I can see how the Democrats can game the system, if given the opportunity. If they want to criticize Romney on that account fine, but keep in mind that the Democrats have managed to pass something anyway. Romney care or not, they passed it because they had the necessary majority. They wouldn't have gotten it otherwise. The key here is to get those majorities. If you don't get them, it won't matter anyhow.
Update: At ThinkProgress, a short skim of the article seems to suggest that Romney favored a national mandate as well. Well, I don't know. That's what they say. Remember where that is coming from. They are using Romney, no doubt. I think Romney could be a problem for them.
Update: PowerLine is critical too. This may have influenced me before I read his book. Frankly, they are blaming Romney for what the Democrats did. How about blaming the Democrats for what the Democrats did? By the way, I am against Obamacare. I'm not so sure I'd like RomneyCare either, but I'll give him credit for trying to keep costs down. This is not what the Democrat plan is and they know it. It is really not fair to blame Romney for that.
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