Presidential Candidate Romney Should Discuss Importance Of Government Subsidies, Regulation In Health Insurance Law, Editorial States

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 27 Aug 2007 - 14:00 PDT

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Presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) in a scheduled health care address on Friday will tout "his experience in helping to pass the landmark 2006 health insurance law in Massachusetts," and although he should "extol the importance of beneficent state and federal government policies in devising and implementing the law, ... he probably won't" a Boston Globe editorial writes. Throughout his campaign, Romney has cited his success in passing the law, and he makes it "seem like a triumph of free-market economics," but "what really makes" the Massachusetts plan work "is a system of government subsidies and regulation," according to the editorial.

"The most important health care issue in this presidential campaign revolves around the use of governmental power to insure the 43.6 million people who now live without coverage that is essential in modern life," the Globe continues, adding, "Many Republican voters would rather hear denunciations of 'mandates and restrictions and regulations.'" The editorial concludes, "Let's hope Romney doesn't keep playing to this crowd. Either tomorrow or later, he should offer a balanced, workable proposal to cover uninsured Americans" (Boston Globe, 8/23).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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