Romney Takes Conservative Fire For Pushing Federal Health Mandate In 2009

[ProSense]

Romney Takes Conservative Fire For Pushing Federal Health Mandate In 2009

Sahil Kapur

Mitt Romney is facing a barrage of conservative attacks after it was revealed late Friday that he wrote a July 2009 op-ed in USA Today calling on President Obama to adopt an individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance, the provision that Republicans today despise and which Romney says he virulently opposes on a federal level.

<...>

“This seems very significant. A number of us have expressed concerns that Romney cannot effectively confront Obama on Obamacare,” wrote Andrew McCarthy at National Review. “The op-ed demonstrates that Mitt regarded Romneycare precisely as a model the federal government ought to adopt, and that the ‘tax penalties’ by which Massachusetts’s individual mandate are enforced were a good fit for Congress and the Obama administration to impose by federal law.”

On his blog RedState, CNN contributor Erick Erickson lamented that this could hurt the GOP’s odds of winning the White House. “Friends,” he wrote, “if Mitt Romney is the nominee, we will be unable to fight Obama on an issue that 60% of Americans agree with us on.”

Hot Air blogger Allahpundit was even more damning, casting the op-ed as evidence that Romney is an opportunist who lacks core convictions. “It’s shocking that, as late as summer 2009,” Allahpundit wrote, “he’d misread the mood of the base badly enough to think he could sell them on the right-wing merits of compulsory health-care purchases, but then that’s what makes him Mitt Romney. And the subsequent flip to the position that of course the mandate is unconstitutional — that’s what really makes him Mitt Romney.”

- more -

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/romney-takes-conservative-fire-for-pushing-federal-mandate-in-2009.php

[Kingofalldems]

1. And the hits just keep on coming

[uponit7771]

2. What does the article mean by "discovered", it was out there all the time why hasn't Newt or Rick

...used this to their advantage.

Romney is a damn liar

[ProSense]

4. Santorum

What does the article mean by "discovered", it was out there all the time why hasn't Newt or Rick

...used this to their advantage.

...likely held it for the moment he's in striking distance. Newt is an irrelevant clown.

It's likely none of them want to deal with this issue because the hypocrisy and lies run deep.

This is not good for Republicans.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. The individual mandate was part of the GOP agenda (TN Pilot)

Until their talking point was taken away and they had to go "opposite" of whatever any Democrats discussed or proposed.

Hospitals would be required to focus on efficiencies and ensuring high care quality. It would drive all providers and payers toward an evidenced-based, patient-centered care model. The Rolling Hills healthcare reform plan also calls for payment reforms, with regional federal health boards determining payments based on regional and local cost variations.

All individuals would be required to have credible, portable health coverage equal to the federal employee health plan by 2019. The mandate would be phased in over 10 years to avoid flooding the system with new patients.

Becker wrote that the long phase-in period would permit pilots of changes in healthcare delivery and payments. That would allow modifications to be made before rolling them out nationally. It also allows time for the health delivery system to gear up to handle the increased patient load, a lesson learned when Massachusetts implemented universal healthcare without adequate resources in place to handle the extra patient load.

Read more: Tennessee Group’s Proposal May Wind Up a Blueprint for National Health Care Reform | Dark Daily http://www.darkdaily.com/congress-eyes-tennessee-group%e2%80%99s-plan-for-reforming-healthcare-in-united-states#ixzz1oALcT8GwL