Records: Obama used Romney as health care model

[elocs]

Source: USA Today

Conservatives who like to link Republican candidate Mitt Romney to President Obama's unpopular-with-the-GOP health care law have some new evidence.

NBC News is reporting that "newly obtained White House records provide fresh details on how senior Obama administration officials used Mitt Romney's landmark health-care law in Massachusetts as a model for the new federal law, including recruiting some of Romney's own health care advisers and experts to help craft the act now derided by Republicans as 'Obamacare.'"

Don't be shocked if this report surfaces at tonight's Republican debate in New Hamsphire, which is previewed at our On Politics blog.

Investigative ace Michael Isikoff further reports that "the records, gleaned from White House visitor logs reviewed by NBC News, show that senior White House officials had a dozen meetings in 2009 with three health-care advisers and experts who helped shape the health care reform law signed by Romney in 2006, when the Republican presidential candidate was governor of Massachusetts."

Read more: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/10/records-obama-used-romney-as-health-care-model/1

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Obama has freely admitted this

I don't think it's controversial.

[Enrique]

3. people need reminders

I expect for this to come up many times before 2012, especially if Romney's the nominee. It will be quite awkward for the GOP establishment to keep defending Romney on this, given how extreme their criticism of health reform was.

[MannyGoldstein]

10. It will also make it more difficult for the Democratic nominee to paint Romney

as an extremist.

[mac56]

12. Sauce for the goose.

If Rom gets the nom, he won't be able to use that against Obama either.

This is a positive. It's red meat for the pack of Repub mongrels looking to tear into Mittens.

[No Elephants]

27. Having a campaign retort is more important than having a health care policy that works, I guess.

[mac56]

33. With no effective "campaign retorts," there will be NO CHANCE

at enacting a health care policy that works, I guess.

Sadly, then, your snark was poorly aimed.

[snooper2]

23. It will be to the teabagging idiots

Given that they are for the most part pretty ignorant and only have the talking points from Ingram and Levin, they will bring it up, and the teawhores will soak it up.

[KansDem]

2. Maybe Romney's pissed off because it's not called "RomneyCare?"

:shrug:

This incident just goes to show how fucking hypocritical Republicans are...:grr:

[SpiralHawk]

4. "Oh shit." - Mitt (R - Socialist)

"Allow me to flip my flop, and do a patented Romney TurnAround to something that will -- at least for a while -- seem to appear to possibly maybe 'sound' more palatable to the BaggerBrain RepubliCons who will whine about this:

"I CLAIM I did not have health care plan inspiration with that, um, evil socialist conception, ObamaCare."

- Mitt (R - Socialist)

[No Elephants]

32. Is that photo 40 years old?

[vi5]

5. It's quite telling that the reaction to this is....

"Oh shit! This is bad for Romney!!!" because a Democrat used his health care model, but not "Oh shit! This is bad for Obama because he enacted a Republican designed Healthcare legislation!!!".

Just shows just how far the dialogue and the acceptable parameters of debate have shifted.

[DJ13]

20. +a billion

[newspeak]

34. so, was it "romney care" first

or the heritage foundation idea? Whatever it is, it is not single payer or a decent public option-more like feed the plebes to the health insurance wolves.

[No Elephants]

28. I plead innocent. I posted Reply 27 before reading your insightful post.

[JVS]

6. Must be why it sucks.

[nineteen50]

7. Very old news

Just not in MSM during health care debate.

[elocs]

16. Then it fits in perfectly at DU where old news gets reposted all the time.

Except this is new news about the old news.

[frazzled]

8. You know, the health care law in MA should not be fully attributed to Romney's ideas

The Democratically controlled legislature in Massachusetts was going to deal with health care (I knew policy people when I lived there who had been working on it a long time). Romney was going to have to deal with it when he was elected, and his veto to a legislature-generated plan would probably not have stood. He had to produce a plan, and that plan was changed by the Democratic legislature.

In November 2004, political leaders began advocating for major reforms of the Massachusetts health care insurance system to expand coverage. First, the Senate President Robert Travaglini called for a plan to reduce the number of uninsured by half. A few days later, the Governor, Mitt Romney, announced that he would propose a plan to cover virtually all of the uninsured.
At the same time, the ACT (Affordable Care Today) Coalition introduced a bill that expanded MassHealth (Medicaid and SCHIP) coverage and increased health coverage subsidy programs and required employers to either provide coverage or pay an assessment to the state. The coalition began gathering signatures to place their proposal on the ballot in November 2006 if the legislature did not enact comprehensive health care reform, resulting in the collection of over 75,000 signatures on the MassACT ballot proposal. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation also sponsored a study, "Roadmap to Coverage," to expand coverage to everyone in the Commonwealth.<14>
Attention focused on the House when Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, speaking at a Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation Roadmap To Coverage forum in October 2005, pledged to pass a bill through the House by the end of the session. At the forum, the Foundation issued a series of reports on reform options, all of which included an individual mandate. At the end of the month, the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing approved a reform proposal crafted by House Speaker DiMasi, Committee co-chair Patricia Walrath and other House members.<15>
Massachusetts also faced pressure from the federal government to make changes to the federal waiver that allows the state to operate an expanded Medicaid program. Under the existing waiver, the state was receiving $385 million in federal funds to reimburse hospitals for services provided to the uninsured. The free care pool had to be restructured so that individuals, rather than institutions, received the funding.<16>
Legislation

In fall 2005 the House and Senate each passed health care insurance reform bills. The legislature made a number of changes to Governor Romney's original proposal, including expanding MassHealth (Medicaid and SCHIP) coverage to low-income children and restoring funding for public health programs. The most controversial change was the addition of a provision which requires firms with 11 or more workers that do not provide "fair and reasonable" health coverage to their workers to pay an annual penalty. This contribution, initially $295 annually per worker, is intended to equalize the free care pool charges imposed on employers who do and do not cover their workers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_health_care_reform

If the WH modeled their proposals on the MA plan, it was because that plan was one that was able to pass in a state with bipartisan support. He wanted something that was semi-tested and could pass.

[mac56]

11. +1

:thumbsup:

[nineteen50]

13. Not only that but

The idea came from a right wing think tank.

[frazzled]

25. Wrong

Jonathan Gruber, the MIT health economist who was one of the main architects of the "Romney" plan, and also was hired by the Obama administration, is not a "conservative." In fact, he's worked mostly for Democrats over the years. Ask Paul Krugman about him.

There are a handful of experts in this field. Gruber happens to be considered one of the top.

[No Elephants]

29. The costs of Romneycare were misrepresented from the jump.

Besides, Romneycare was pretty much failing (the people--insurers were doing great) before Obama used it as his model.

As far as the claim that it was tested as a bi-partisan plan in Massachusetts, that is wrong in so many ways that addressing it would take much more time and patience than I have at the moment. Suffice to say the two situations had less than nothing to do with each other.

[iandhr]

9. This is news?

[harun]

24. As long as the number of people not paying attention GREATLY outnumbers

the people paying attention we will continue to treat common knowledge like this as "news". Which means it is staying this way.

[elocs]

26. Must be since it's in Latest Breaking News and the rules are strict here about posting old news. n/t

[ProSense]

14. Including being

tagged as a supporter of health care reform (a no-no for a GOP candidate), Mitt Romney has issues.

[No Elephants]

31. He is running on repealing Obama health care, so I don't think that is his main problem.

Flip flopping on every issue and being a real life Gordon Gekko, on the other hand, are problems for him with both the Republican base and voters in general.

[Botany]

15. go get em mittens

[area51]

17. What we got should either be called RomneyCare or GingrichCare.

What we wound up with is the 1993 republican health care proposal which forces people to buy health insurance with basically no regulation of insurance cos.

[TomCADem]

18. Also, The Mass HCR Bill Was Passed By A Democratic Legislature - What Is Ignored...

...Is that Romney acted in a bi-partisan manner. This is the truth that is hid by the corporate media. Romney actually worked with Democrats, which is sacrilege among conservatives.

Also, Romney did not run again, because he knew he would get beat by a Democratic challenger.

[No Elephants]

30. Your post is missing facts. Bi Partisanship is unnecessary in Massachusetts

because Democrats can overturn a gubernatorial veto anytime they wish. They hold something like a 95% majority.

Problem was, Romney misrepresented the costs of his plan from the jump. Or so the Legislature said after he was out of office.

I have no idea why you think Romney did not run again because he knew he would lose, so it's tough to address that. Anything to back up your claim?



Please see also Reply 29.

[TomCADem]

35. Well, I Guess You Are Right. MA Healthcare Bill Was Mostly Democratic

...since they could have easily overturned a Mitt Romney veto. As I read your comment, they did not even need Romney to agree or disagree on the reform. I guess Romney could make that argument, but then it makes him look weak that he was essentially run over by the MA Democratic legislature.

[Safetykitten]

19. What. A. Surprise.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

21. YAY!!! i am most worried about MR as the opposition. i think it will be obama vs obama light

and much harder to make the decision

i want CRAZY PANTS (almost everyone else) vs Obama

[walerosco]

22. wow

why not tell us something we didnt already know. Obama after signing HCR said so himself, no need trying to score cheap political points with this