An Innovative Leader
In the op-ed, Nick Tzitzon (a government accountability consultant and former Romney aide) put together three reasons “why conservatives should embrace Mitt Romney’s health-care legacy”:
1) Conservatives like the concept of states, not the federal government, experimenting with public policies to determine their relative merits. Have you ever seen the phrase, “states as laboratories of democracy?” Do you agree with the concept? If so, credit Mitt Romney with the leadership and skill to negotiate a thoughtful compromise with the Massachusetts state legislature to get uninsured citizens health care coverage.
2) Conservatives like the concept of tailoring solutions to the unique circumstances in states and localities. Has Romney ever endorsed every element of the Massachusetts legislation as a viable, nationwide solution? Of course he hasn’t. To the contrary, credit Romney with having the guts to step up and admit that certain elements of the plan didn’t work the way his team had anticipated, particularly in light of last minute changes by the state legislature.
3) Conservatives like the concept of utilizing input from private enterprise in building public solutions. During Mitt Romney’s planning and legislative negotiations in Massachusetts, he brought the Heritage Foundation into the process and gave their free-market geniuses a seat at the table. Let me repeat that: Romney gave the deep red Heritage Foundation a seat at the table in blue state Massachusetts to help craft the state’s health care reform.
RomneyCare Respects State's Rights
I really do not see a problem with RomneyCare; in fact, I believe it positions Mitt Romney as the most capable person to effectively dismantle ObamaCare.
And now, the closing argument from Nick Tzitzon:
Far from being an albatross around Romney’s neck, the former Governor’s health-care legacy proves that he is by far the strongest, most innovative, credible, and conservative GOP hopeful who could take on President Obama.
The other thing that conservatives need to keep in mind is that the Massachusetts legislature was overwhelmingly Democrat and liberal. In that situation, all anyone can do is try to influence the legislation in the right direction. Mr. Romney succeeded in that respect. No president can lead the country in the right direction without Congress also moving in that direction. If conservatives don’t realize this truth, conservatism will never accomplish anything.
@Bill Great points, Bill. I always ask people what kind of plan would Mitt Romney have put together if he were instead the Governor of Arkansas, or Alaska? …I imagine he would have had a much easier time working with the legislature of either state, and in the end, would have created plans far different from MassCare.
Exactly. He gave the people what they wanted, but did it in such a way that it didn’t violate conservative principles like states’ rights.
Another big difference: MA had a surplus before they started shopping for that bill.
Keep in mind that Romney Care was mandated when there were less illegal aliens in our state abusing our health care system. And since a very liberal governor took over who abolished Romney’s other mandate of ridding these illegals, is the reason why his health care plan has had problems today. Remember Romney Care then also saved this state millions back then because it prevented rich people as well as illegals from showing up at our clinics claiming they couldn’t afford health care.
Also, regarding the mandate, is it not a conservative principle to insist that people able to buy their own insurance do so, rather than the alternative? Prior to the law, TAXPAYERS were mandated to pay for other people’s health care when those people could have and should have been personally responsible. I believe he did the conservative thing and the right thing.
It is not, Illinoisguy. It is a conservative principle that you look after yourself, not have the government force you to look after yourself; much like it is a conservative principle to give to charity, rather than have the government take from you and give to charity.
The mandate is still a problem, for me.
Whenever you lead you run the risk of getting out too far ahead of the troops. MassCare is out too far. You learn from the errors that were compromised into the bill and you move on to eliminate those errors. Romney did a great job with this bill and will do an even better job leading the nation on a bunch of other issues.