Romney Ducks Again

Former Governor Mitt Romney signed his Healthcare Reform in Boston’s Faneuil Hall besides the late Senator Edward Kennedy back in 2006, making Massachusetts the first state in the country to require that all its residents have health insurance. So, why is Mitt Romney trying to distance himself from perhaps his greatest accomplishment as Governor?

Having lived in Massachusetts for a few years, I became intimately familiar with MassHealth – Massachusetts own Medicaid. As a native New Yorker, I frequented various clinics in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and witnessing such a disparity between these two states was remarkable. The research clinics, medical advances, and level of care in Boston is extraordinary. Moreover, doctors take great care in getting to know their patients and addressing their concerns – I believe I have experienced what is known as “compassion.

Massachusetts continues to lead health care reform. Now, in an attempt to control its health costs – it spends 15% above the national average – Governor Deval Patrick is moving away from the fee for service system and towards a flat “global payments” plan. This plan would charge a flat global fee for the care of each patient, and patients would be charged a flat rate, rather than paying for each procedure. Providers also benefit by receiving higher payments for high-risk patients and bonuses for high-quality care. In this plan, doctors would not be compensated per procedure, confirming the notion that proactive care is less expensive in the long run than reactive care.

Having paved the way for national reform, health care reform in Massachusetts continues to serve as a litmus test for the rest of the nation. President Obama took notice and introduced the bipartisan Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Unfortunately, Romney’s greatest accomplishment has become one of his greatest liabilities as a candidate. Romney’s bill in 2006 included elements like the individual mandate, which requires people to buy insurance and is also in the federal plan, is deeply unpopular among conservatives. Also, having had President Obama acknowledge that there are many Republican elements in his federal bill, since “Romney’s team advised Obama’s team,” does not win Romney great applause among Republicans.

So, for the past year Romney has been trying to distance himself from the state healthcare reform he once championed. He has even vowed that as his first act as President, he will repeal ObamaCare. Now that Massachusetts is back on the headlines with Governor Patrick taking the lead and making bold changes in significantly reducing healthcare costs, Romney continues playing his game of dodge ball. But if this state succeeds, it will serve as a blueprint for how the federal government can put flesh on the bones of the PPACA framework. And if it fails, then at least we have learned something useful.

As for Romney, be proud of your accomplishments and defend the decisions you made as Governor, for it prompted national health care in a nation that is vastly uninsured or underinsured.

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