Romney-Care

Mitt's Campaign TOMBSTONE photo. As Romney Care begins the slow slide towards Massachusetts bankruptcy, today was the day. Picture this:

When then-Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney signed into law the nation’s most far-reaching state health care reform proposal, it was widely expected to be a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. In fact Governor Romney bragged that he would "steal" the traditionally Democratic issue of health care. "Issues which have long been the province of the Democratic Party to claim as their own will increasingly move to the Republican side of the aisle," he told Bloomberg News Service shortly after signing the bill. He told other reporters that the biggest difference between his health care plan and Hillary Clinton’s was "mine got passed and hers didn’t."

Outside observers on both the Right and Left praised the program. Edmund Haislmaier of the Heritage Foundation hailed it as "one of the most promising strategies out there." And Hillary Clinton adviser Stuart Altman said, ‘‘The Massachusetts plan could become a catalyst and a galvanizing event at the national level, and a catalyst for other states."

Today, however, Romney seldom mentions his plan on the campaign trail. If pressed he maintains that he is "proud" of what he accomplished, while criticizing how the Democratic administration that succeeded him has implemented the program. Nevertheless, he now focuses on changing federal tax law in order to empower individuals to buy health insurance outside their employer, and on incentives for states to deregulate their insurance industry. He would also use block grants for both Medicaid and federal uncompensated care funds to encourage greater state innovation. He encourages states to experiment, but does not offer his own state as a model.

Note the attendees.

Today, in 2006, Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law RomneyCare, his health care ‘reform’ plan. It provided the foundation for ObamaCare. Romney drew from the guidance of the ‘conservative’ Heritage Foundation to  enact an individual mandate, backed by the power of the state,  to purchase health insurance. Romney wants now to be President and the Heritage Foundation (who also supported TARP) wants to lead the conservative movement. Color us unimpressed.

Big Government.