Romneycare vs. Obamacare

[Trevorum]

 

I hear lots of rhetoric from the right about how Obamacare is a bad idea, but I've never really heard an assessment on how Romneycare (on which Obamabare is closely modeled) has affected the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Do we have anyone here who knows firsthand?

 

[packsaddle]

Since no one from New England has responded, I'll note that I know several young persons who have health insurance because of the law, and wouldn't otherwise. I also know of one case in my neighborhood for which the lifetime cap probably would have ruined the family if it had still been in place.

Some aspects of the law have certainly been beneficial. But don't forget...this was ROMNEY'S idea, not Obama's.

[Eagle732]

One was a state program. If you didn't want to be a part of it you could move out of state.

The other is a federal program. If you don't like it you can move to another country.

 

And since businesses are paying the tab the "you" in my comments refer to businesses.

[moosetracker]

Maybe they will respond later, but in other political threads I have heard from two MA residents.. One, who just volunteered the fact he thought Romneycare was the best thing Romney did as MA governor.. Another who though poorly of Romney because of Romneycare.. Neither were very detailed in their reasoning though..

 

If it is any indictation Obama has a 28% LEAD in MA over Romney.. Now it may be that no one in that state has read a newspaper, watched the news, or has seen anything on the internet, and are voting against Romney because he started Romneycare.. I though have a feeling that MA population are well educated, and are therefore plugged in enough to know that Romney 2.0 - 5.0 is against Obamacare, and Obama of course thinks the program he started is very beneficial.. Romney had alot of other things he did that made him an unpopular 1 term governor there.

[Eagle732]

Mass. Democrats out number Republicans 3 to 1. Basically it's a one party state.

 

 

[Fehler]

I am relieved that my 4-year-old daughter will not be denied insurance in her adult life due to having a brain tumor removed when she was 1. Did this reform need to be tied to the whole Affordable Care Act? Maybe not, but it hadn't passed on its own in all the years its been proposed.

[moosetracker]

Mass. Democrats out number Republicans 3 to 1. Basically it's a one party state.

 

 

For the most part.. BUT... They did vote Republican when they elected him to be their Governor.. AND.. They also currently (well see after Nov 6) have a republican senator, Scott Brown..

 

Was he a lousy Governor? Does MA hate RomneyCare, but love Obamacare? Have they shifted more Left?

[Eagle732]

Romney has said he would prevent discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions.

[Tampa Turtle]

"Romney has said he would prevent discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions."

 

How?

 

With the cooperation of the anti-healthcare reform House? Why it's anti-free market.

 

As an individual with pre-existing conditions who would likely die without coverage I am not willing to take that chance. And my child would be denied as well...

[packsaddle]

As the leader of the party, one way Romney could do that, once in office, is to basically instruct Republicans NOT to undo that part of the ACA...or any other part Romney agrees with.

Assuming the Republicans undid it anyway, Romney could then veto their bill.

Fehler, I too am glad for you and your daughter.

 

Edit: Eagle732, as I've written before, businesses or employers should NOT be paying for health insurance for employees. Period. Instead employees should be paid a wage or salary that allows THEM to make the insurance choices they decide to make.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[scoutingagain]

"Mass. Democrats out number Republicans 3 to 1. Basically it's a one party state."

 

FYI, Registered independants outnumber both Democrats and Republicans.

 

As a resident of MA and having been under Romney care for the last 6 years or so I can say that as one who is employed and has access to health insurance through my employer the biggest impact of Romneycare has been.....um....hmm... can't think of any.

 

The biggest impacts have been to the previously uninsured. The primary goal of health insurance reform more that 6 years ago was to address the issue of those not covered by health insurance. Under Romneycare, 98% of MA residents are now covered by some form of health insurance, and those that are not, and can afford it, now pay a tax penalty for not having health insurance. I know Romney said it wasn't a tax until his handlers told him to say it was a tax and I'm OK with calling it a tax. So when Romney says he didn't raise taxes in MA he's not telling the truth. Suprise. Another major difference is reasonably priced health care insurance is availabe to the individual through the insurance exchange. One no longer needs to be tied to a company sponsored plan to access affordable health care insurance. The biggest downside has been for the newly insured to find a Dr. So many people signed up for health insurance there is a shortage of primary care physicians.

 

Generally polls have indicated people approve of Romneycare by a 2:1 margin or so. There hasn't been an exodus of businesses from MA due to health care insurance. Some small businesses may have been affected as they are now required to offer(offer, not pay for) health insurance. Yes, the cost of health care insurance has gone up over 6 years but not more so than nationally.

 

Romneycare was the Republican approach to universal health coverage. It relies on the private insurance market. As Beav noted earlier it was essentially a program developed by the Heritage Foundation in response to Hillarycare which would have been more like a single payer system. Republicans generally supported Romneycare, including the individual mandate, until it was implemented by Democrats. If Romney had been nominated in 2008, he would have highlighted it as one of his signature achievments as Governor. Republicans would be extolling the virues of the individual mandate as the essence of individual responsiblity and Democrats would be attacking it as a sell out to the insurance industry and the individual mandate as a tax increase on those that can't afford it.

 

So it's not just Romney, it's nearly the entire Republican party that's flip flopped on this.

 

SA

[scoutingagain]

I may have forgotten the Death Panel. Havn't run into it yet.

 

SA

 

 

[scoutingagain]

"Romney has said he would prevent discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions. "

 

Romney has said a lot of things he says he didn't mean or believe. If they guy said the sky is blue I'd have to go check. Full disclosure: I did vote for Romney for Govornor and thought he was a reasonably decent cheif executive. At this point though I can't tell if that's the guy that would show up in the Oval office or not. I'm inclined to go with the devil I know.

 

SA

[NJCubScouter]

Scoutingagain, I am convinced that the Romney who would show up in the White House if elected is really not the person who was your governor in Massachusetts. (Speaking figuratively here, not a switched-body conspiracy theory.) It is similar to the way that the John McCain who ran in the 2008 general election was not the same John McCain who ran for the Republican nomination in 2000 and who has done a lot of good bipartisan work in the Senate. I think the Republican presidential primary process has become a "transformative" process, and not in a good way. It forces an electable candidate who is already a conservative to go much further to the "right", and it's difficult to then get back toward the "center", which is where I think a majority of the general election voters want to be. One could argue that something similar goes on in the Democratic Party, but in my opinion, not nearly as much.

[Sentinel947]

NJCubScouter: from my observations you are correct about the Republican party primaries drawing their candidates to the far right. The Democrats, while it does happen from time to time, (See the Warren vs Brown race in Mass) it doesn't happen nearly as frequently in my estimation.