Romney Op-Ed in USA Today Previews Health Care Speech

USA Today has published an op-ed today from Governor Romney previewing the health care speech he will deliver tomorrow:

Romney: As first act, out with ObamaCare

Health care is more than just one-sixth of the American economy. It is a source of well-being for individuals and families. We are blessed with much that is good in American health care. But we have taken a turn for the worse with ObamaCare, with its high taxes and vastly expanded federal control over our lives. I believe the better course is to empower the states to determine their own health care futures.

First, the good news: Health care in the United States has made remarkable advances in our lifetimes. Dramatic improvements in medical technology have expanded both the length and quality of life. And the U.S. health care system continues to provide consumers with many choices.

But our health care system has several well-known problems: high and rising costs, significant numbers of Americans without insurance, and glaring gaps in quality and efficiency.

We can fix these problems. Unfortunately, with the passage of ObamaCare last year, the president and the Congress took a wrong turn. ObamaCare will lead to more spending, greater federal involvement in health care and negative effects on U.S. economic activity. The president definitely forgot the admonition to “do no harm.”

My plan is to harness the power of markets to drive positive change in health insurance and health care. And we can do so with state flexibility (unlike ObamaCare’s top-down federal approach), no new taxes (as opposed to hundreds of billions of dollars of new taxes under ObamaCare), and better consumer choice (as opposed to bureaucratic, government choice under ObamaCare). This change of direction offers our best hope of preserving both innovation and.

Romney also reiterates his pledge that, should he become President of the United States, on his first day in office, he would issue an executive order to offer health care waivers for all states. Then, he would doggedly work to fully repeal Obamacare.

Romney states, again, his long-held belief in returning power to the states.

In this op-ed, five health care reforms are highlighted:

Step 1: Give states the responsibility, flexibility and resources to care for citizens who are poor, uninsured or chronically ill.[...]

Step 2: Reform the tax code to promote the individual ownership of health insurance. [...]

Step 3: Focus federal regulation of health care on making markets work. [...]

Step 4: Reform medical liability. [...]

Step 5: Make health care more like a consumer market and less like a government program. [...]

Don’t miss reading the details here.

We’re eagerly awaiting The Gov’s speech! (We’ll update here when broadcast info becomes available.)

UPDATE: May 12, 2011 LIVE on C-Span 3 – Gov Romney’s speech will air @ 2:00-3:00 PM ET. See www.C-Span.org. It is also being reported that his speech will air on Radio – XM Channel 119 at the same time, but I haven’t confirmed that.

UPDATE 2: Here is the C-Span LIVEFEED link to watch Gov Romney’s speech: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/. Unconfirmed: Some are saying FOX News will broadcast Gov Romney’s speech LIVE @2:00 PM ET, as well.

► Jayde Wyatt