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Sen. Schumer says Romney "in a pickle" over health care
CBS News ^ | July 1, 2012 | Leigh Ann Caldwell

Posted on 07/01/2012 6:19:46 PM PDT by presidio9

Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is "in a pickle" arguing against the president's health care bill because he passed a similar version in Massachusetts.

"He prescribed this. This was his bill," Schumer said on "Face the Nation." He noted Republicans "have ads saying it's a tax increase. Are they going to say, 'Mitt Romney had the biggest tax increase in Massachusetts?'"

"Mitt Romney is in a total pickle here," Schumer said, arguing that the Republican Party is in a tough position: As polls suggest the economy is the top priority of voters, he said Republicans are making health care a top issue in the election, while Democrats in Congress will be focused on job creation.

"The Republican Party's in a box, the Tea Party's pulling them over to just talk about repeal," he said. "They're going to vote on a repeal of health care, litigate a battle that has been going on for four years, and we are going to put on the floor a small business jobs tax cut."

But on the same program, Senator Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said health care is very much a part of the economic discussion. "I think it's extremely intertwined with the economy. And I think it's an example of where Washington doesn't get it. One of the reasons we don't have significant job creation is the federal government itself," he said.

"We're approaching the health care problem the wrong way. As a practicing physician for over 25 years, the one thing you want to do is fix the real disease, not the symptoms, and the

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: New York; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: abortion; charlesschumer; deathpanels; fff; iwontvoteforromney; newyork; obamacare; oklahoma; romney4deathpanels; romney4obamacare; romneycare; romneydeathpanels; tomcoburn; upchuckschumer; zerocare
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To: TribalPrincess2U
Is Schumer and Biden related? Both are jokers.

BOTH have sucked on the public teat far too long.

41 posted on 07/01/2012 8:47:03 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Fools.Damn fools.Welcome to the USSA. Socialism is slavery to the State and the Supreme Court did it)
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To: presidio9

It is important to recognize differences between the Mass “mandate” and the Obamatax mandate. The Mass plan DID have a mandate, but the amounts were much lower than Obamatax and were for single or family situations (i.e., not based on income) -— and, significantly, could be satisfied by a low bond as many states do with automobile liability insurance. The Romney approach had as its ultimate goal to get a larger number of people in PRIVATE insurance plans (not, as with the Obamatax, the goal of sabotaging private insurance) and stressed catastrophic coverage (as opposed to Obamatax where you go in for everything right down to a bandage practically).

Some items in the Mass bill were vetoed by Romney but the Democratic legislature overrode them. A few months later a Democrat became Governor and then there were numerous changes made resulting in a significant increase in “administrators” (although probably not as much as will happen with Obamatax).


42 posted on 07/01/2012 8:59:06 PM PDT by Vesparado (The American people know what they want and they deserve to get it good and hard --- HL Mencken)
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To: JohnD9207

Explain how RomneyCare screws the federal government or the lies and disinformation post?

RomneyCare is actually bailed out by the federal government and is not self-sufficient. It’s one of the major reasons why ObamaCare is so bad... there’s no one to bail out the federal government.

http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/v30n1/cpr30n1-1.html

As for lies and disinformation. Well, that’s easy. Florida was probably the greatest example of it. Mittens outspent the other candidates by millions, and spent most of it on negative ads falsely accusing Newt, who was leading at that time, of being run out of congress in shame. Around that time, Mittens surrogates in the GOPe were releasing stories about Newt supposedly denouncing Ronald Reagan, which were all false, of course.


43 posted on 07/01/2012 9:02:27 PM PDT by RaisingCain
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44 posted on 07/01/2012 9:07:36 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: presidio9

It is important to recognize differences between the Mass “mandate” and the Obamatax mandate. The Mass plan DID have a mandate, but the amounts were much lower than Obamatax and were for single or family situations (i.e., not based on income) -— and, significantly, could be satisfied by a low bond as many states do with automobile liability insurance. The Romney approach had as its ultimate goal to get a larger number of people in PRIVATE insurance plans (not, as with the Obamatax, the goal of sabotaging private insurance) and stressed catastrophic coverage (as opposed to Obamatax where you go in for everything right down to a bandage practically).

Some items in the Mass bill were vetoed by Romney but the Democratic legislature overrode them. A few months later a Democrat became Governor and then there were numerous changes made resulting in a significant increase in “administrators” (although probably not as much as will happen with Obamatax).


45 posted on 07/01/2012 9:08:50 PM PDT by Vesparado (The American people know what they want and they deserve to get it good and hard --- HL Mencken)
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To: presidio9

Schumer, we have much of your past to cover. Let’s start with your part in engineering the economic collapse and blaming it on Bush and the Republicans.

http://www.rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/democrat-senator-chuck-schumers-role-in-americas-financial-crisis/


46 posted on 07/01/2012 9:15:34 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Countdown to 11-06-2012)
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To: JohnD9207

Oops, I provided the wrong link which shows the Feds bailing out RomneyCare. Here it is:

“n this study, the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University (BHI) attempts to fill the gap by calculating the effect of health care reform on state and federal governments and the private health insurance markets, including employee contributions to their private insurance plans. We find that, under health care reform:

• State health care expenditures have risen by $414 million over the period;

• Private health insurance costs have risen by $4.311 billion over the period;

• The federal government has spent an additional $2.418 billion on Medicaid for Massachusetts.

• Over this period, Medicare expenditures increased by $1.426 billion;

• For a total cumulative cost of $8.569 billion over the period; and

• The state has been able to shift the majority of the costs to the federal government.

The federal government continues to absorb a significant cost of health care reform through enhanced Medicaid payments and the Medicare program. …We estimate the effects of health care reform by comparing the actual value of each variable with the value it would have had, based on recent trends, had health care reform not been implemented.”

http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/the-federal-government-has-been-bailing-out-romneycare-but-who-will-be-available-to-bail-out-obamacare/


47 posted on 07/01/2012 9:19:21 PM PDT by RaisingCain
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To: Diogenesis

Romney got out on the starting block early with money from the 2008 election. If we wanted a candidate to overtake him, we should have forked over all our money to one candidate early. It didn’t help with 11 candidates running. Out of this field, who should we have rallied behind?

Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Michele Bachmann
Herman Cain
Newt Gingrich
Jon Huntsman Jr.
Thaddeus McCotter
Tim Pawlenty
Rick Perry
Buddy Roemer
Rick Santorum


48 posted on 07/01/2012 9:47:16 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Countdown to 11-06-2012)
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To: presidio9

Schumcker is obsessed with his pickle and everyone else’s pickles.


49 posted on 07/01/2012 10:11:46 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: presidio9
From what I've seen, Mitt's plan, even though what we have now is somewhat different from that which he envisioned, thanks to the Democrat led legislature, didn't have the effect of raising taxes on myriad other things that have nothing to do with healthcare, which is what Obama's plan will do.

Nice try, UpChuck, but it ain't gonna fly.

50 posted on 07/01/2012 10:31:05 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: presidio9
Seems to me that Romney proved obamacare won't work.

Conservatives learn from their mistakes. Liberals elect theirs.
51 posted on 07/01/2012 10:35:52 PM PDT by clearcarbon
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To: JohnD9207

I might not agree with Massachusetts healthcare, but it is confined to Massachusetts.
_________________________________

actually its not...

as Willard told Bill O’Reilly, “Its working the way it should. The state of Massachuscetts pays half, and the Federal government pays half”

That Fed government half of RomneyCare affects your state kid...

and you...


52 posted on 07/01/2012 10:38:53 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana (Why should I vote for Bishop Romney when he hates me because I am a Christian)
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To: clearcarbon

Romney is not in any pickle and since the Supreme Court has endorsed the public mandate, Romney should stand behind it, but limit it to a minimum coverage and dump the rest of the Obamacare entitlement. There is nothing in the mandate that dictates the rest of the Obamacare bill.

So, let the mandate stand, limit it to a minimum of coverage and dump the rest of the entitlement, the other 2,700 pages.


53 posted on 07/01/2012 10:39:27 PM PDT by Eva
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To: presidio9

I didn’t hear him enter but I couldn’t miss the
smell of his perfume...Pyramid Patouli.

“Drop that pickle Rocky!”


54 posted on 07/02/2012 1:49:26 AM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: SuziQ

If I recall a huge majority of the residents of MA supported Romneycare at the time it was implemented.I believe it was around 85% of MA public.


55 posted on 07/02/2012 2:31:03 AM PDT by saneright
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To: saneright
Be truthful. ROMNEY and the DNC installed RomneyCARE.
The PEOPLE never voted, and hate it.


Emergency room visits grow in Mass. New insurance law did not reduce number of users
The number of people visiting hospital emergency rooms has climbed in Massachusetts,
despite the enactment of nearly universal health insurance that some hoped would reduce expensive emergency department use."


Back to the ObamaCare Future (price controls in Massachusetts)
Natural experiments are rare in politics, but few are as instructive as the prototype for
ObamaCare that Massachusetts set in motion in 2006.
Last month, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick landed a neutron bomb, proposing hard
price controls across almost all Massachusetts health care. State regulators already have
the power to cap insurance premiums, which Mr. Patrick is activating. He also filed a bill
that would give state regulators the power to review the rates of hospitals, physician
groups and some specialty providers.

It doesn't even count as an irony that former Governor Mitt Romney (like President Obama) sold this plan as a way to control spending"


"The Huge Middle Class Tax Increase Coming Our Way With ObamaCare
The former CBO director, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, warns today on the effect ObamaCare
will have on our economy and health care. These facts should be painfully obvious to
those with even one iota of common sense. This bill will lead to a huge middle class tax increase:
Remember when health-care reform was supposed to make life better for the middle
class? That dream began to unravel this past summer when Congress proposed a bill that
failed to include any competition-based reforms that would actually bend the curve of
health-care costs. It fell apart completely when Democrats began papering over the
gaping holes their plan would rip in the federal budget.

As it now stands, the plan proposed by Democrats and the Obama administration would
not only fail to reduce the cost burden on middle-class families, it would make that burden significantly worse.

The bill creates a new health entitlement program that the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) estimates will grow over the longer term at a rate of 8% annually, which is much
faster than the growth rate of the economy or tax revenues. This is the same growth rate
as the House bill that Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) deep-sixed by asking the CBO to tell
the truth about its impact on health-care costs.

To avoid the fate of the House bill and achieve a veneer of fiscal sensibility, the Senate
did three things: It omitted inconvenient truths, it promised that future Congresses will
make tough choices to slow entitlement spending, and it dropped the hammer on the middle class.

One inconvenient truth is the fact that Congress will not allow doctors to suffer a 24% cut in their Medicare reimbursements. "


"DEATH PANELS OPEN FOR BUSINESS IN MASSACHUSETTS
In August Sarah Palin wrote extensively about the incredible danger that ObamaCare
would lead to what amounts to "death panels." This of course caused great controversy
with many claiming Palin was either "crazy" or talking about the "end of life"
discussions that were provided for within House Resolution 3200, the prototype
ObamaCare bill.
As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan
that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is
dropping, and we're saying not just no, but hell no!

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of
health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care
will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the
most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The
America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down
Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can
decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether
they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil. .
Now we have news from Massachusetts, the home of RomneyCare, which should be
looked at as a shining example of why ObamaCare will be an epic failure. Soaring costs
both to the taxpayers and patients was inevitable, and now the effects of these are coming home to roost.
You can't reap these savings without limiting patients' choices in some way,"


"You can't reap these savings without limiting patients' choices in some way," said Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess.

The state's ambitious plan to shake up how providers are paid could have a hidden price
for patients: Controlling Massachusetts' soaring medical costs, many health care leaders
believe, may require residents to give up their nearly unlimited freedom to go to any
hospital and specialist they want.

Efforts to keep patients in a defined provider network, or direct them to lower-cost
hospitals could be unpopular, especially in a state where more than 40 percent of hospital
care is provided in expensive academic medical centers and where many insurance
policies allow patients access to large numbers of providers. ."


"State plan may place limits on patients' hospital options( Mass. RomneyCare )"


"Paying the Health Tax in Massachusetts [Romneycare]
My husband retired from IBM about a decade ago, and as we aren't old enough for
Medicare we still buy our health insurance through the company. But IBM, with its
typical courtesy, informed us recently that we will be fined by the state.
Why? Because Massachusetts requires every resident to have health insurance, and this
year, without informing us directly, the state had changed the rules in a way that made
our bare-bones policy no longer acceptable. Unless we ponied up for a pricier policy we
neither need nor want-or enrolled in a government-sponsored insurance plan-we
would have to pay $1,000 each year to the state.
My husband's response was muted; I was shaking mad. We hadn't imposed our health-
care costs on anyone else, yet we were being fined ("taxed" was the word the letter used).

We've spent much of our lives putting away what money we could for retirement. We
always intended to be self-sufficient. We've paid off the mortgage on our home, don't
carry credit-card debt, and have savings in case of an emergency. We also have a regular
monthly income of about $3,000, which includes an IBM pension. My husband, 61, earns
a little money on the side, sometimes working as an electronics consultant on renewable
energy projects. I'm 58 and make some money writing science books. We are not
wealthy, but we aren't a risk of becoming a burden on society either. How did we become outlaws? "


"National Health Preview - The Massachusetts debacle, coming soon to your neighborhood."
"Three years ago, the former Massachusetts Governor had the inadvertent good sense to create the "universal" health-care program that the White House and Congress now want to inflict on the entire country.
It is proving to be instructive, as Mr. Romney's foresight previews what President Obama, Max Baucus, Ted Kennedy and Pete Stark are cooking up for everyone else.
In Massachusetts's latest crisis, Governor Deval Patrick and his Democratic colleagues are starting to move down the path that government health plans always follow when spending collides with reality -- i.e., price controls.
As costs continue to rise, the inevitable results are coverage restrictions and waiting periods. It was only a matter of time.

They're trying to manage the huge costs of the subsidized middle-class insurance program that is gradually swallowing the state budget.
The program provides low- or no-cost coverage to about 165,000 residents, or three-fifths of the newly insured, and is budgeted at $880 million for 2010, a 7.3% single-year increase that is likely to be optimistic.
The state's overall costs on health programs have increased by 42% (!) since 2006.

What really whipped along RomneyCare were claims that health care would be less expensive if everyone were covered.
But reducing costs while increasing access are irreconcilable issues.
Mr. Romney should have known better before signing on to this not-so-grand experiment, especially since the state's "free market" reforms that he boasts about have proven to be irrelevant when not fictional.
Only 21,000 people have used the "connector" that was supposed to link individuals to private insurers."


A Very Sick Health Plan; Bay State's 'Grand Experiment' Fails [RomneyCare]
"The Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, Va. - 2009-03-31 "
"For folks increasingly leery of President Obama's plan to radically overhaul America's health-care system,
or 17 percent of the nation's economy, all this could hardly have come at a better time -
that is, fiscal troubles aplenty within Repubican Mitt Romney's brainchild, Massachusetts' "grand experiment" in "universal" health care."

"Initiated on Mr. Romney's gubernatorial watch in 2006, this "experiment" has fallen on hard times, and predictably so.
Even though the Bay State commenced its program with a far smaller percentage of uninsured residents than exists nationwide,
"RomneyCare" is threatening to bankrupt the state. Budgeted for Fiscal Year 2010 at $880 million,
or 7.3 percent more than a year ago, this plan, aimed at providing low- or no-cost health coverage to roughly 165,000 residents,
has caused Massachusetts' overall expenditures on all health-related programs to jump an astounding 42 percent since 2006.

So what does Mr. Romney's successor, Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, propose as a remedy for these skyrocketing costs?
Well, whaddya think? The standard litany of prescriptions (no pun intended) - price controls and spending caps, for a start, and then, again predictably, waiting periods and limitations on coverage.
As in Europe and Canada, so too in Massachusetts. And, we feel certain, everyone from Mr. Romney to Mr. Patrick said, "It would never happen here."
But then, such things are inevitable when best-laid plans, with all their monstrous costs, run smack-dab into fiscal reality.


Health care in Massachusetts: a warning for America [Romney brings Mass. to its knees]
The Bay State's mandatory insurance law is raising costs, limiting access, and lowering care.

Sedalia, Colo. - In his recent speech to Congress, President Obama could have promoted
healthcare reforms that tapped the power of a truly free market to lower costs and
improve access. Instead, he chose to offer a national version of the failing
"Massachusetts plan" based on mandatory health insurance. This is a recipe for disaster.

Three years ago, Massachusetts adopted a plan requiring all residents to purchase health
insurance, with state subsidies for lower-income residents. But rather than creating a
utopia of high-quality affordable healthcare, the result has been the exact opposite -
skyrocketing costs, worsened access, and lower quality care.

Under any system of mandatory insurance, the government must necessarily define what
constitutes acceptable insurance. In Massachusetts, this has created a giant magnet for
special interest groups seeking to have their own pet benefits included in the required
package. Massachusetts residents are thus forced to purchase benefits they may neither
need nor want, such as in vitro fertilization, chiropractor services, and autism treatment -
raising insurance costs for everyone to reward a few with sufficient political "pull."

Although similar problems exist in other states, Massachusetts' system of mandatory
insurance delivers the entire state population to the special interests. ."


"'Severe' doc shortage seen hiking wait time The Boston Herald ^ | 9/15/09 | Christine McConville As the state's shortage of primary care doctors grows, people are waiting longer for medical care, according to a new survey by the Massachusetts Medical Society. "The shortage is getting more severe," said Dr. Mario Motta, the medical society's president. The state's health care dilemma can serve as a valuable lesson for a nation whose residents are locked in a frenzied debate about health care reform, he added."


"Health costs to rise again.( RomneyCare )
The state's major health insurers plan to raise premiums by about 10 percent next year,
prompting many employers to reduce benefits and shift additional costs to workers.
The higher insurance costs undermine a key tenet of the state's landmark health care law
passed two years ago, as well as President Obama's effort to overhaul health care. In
addition to mandating insurance for most residents, the Massachusetts bill sought to rein
in health care costs. With Washington looking to the Massachusetts experience, fears
about higher costs have become a stumbling block to passing a national health care bill."


"Nation's ill-advised to follow Mass. plan [Health plan a failure]
September 17, 2009 The canary is dead.
Massachusetts, the model for the ObamaCare universal insurance plan, is the canary in
the health care coal mine. Yesterday, its obit appeared on the front page of both The Wall
Street Journal and The Boston Globe-Democrat.

Both papers reported that our Commonwealth Care reform isn't working as planned. A
new law that was supposed to control costs and drive prices down (sound familiar?) has
instead sent costs soaring. "



"Bay State Insurance Premiums Highest in Country - Boston Globe August 22, 2009
Massachusetts has the most expensive family health insurance premiums in the country,
according to a new analysis that highlights the state's challenge in trying to rein in medical costs
after passage of a landmark 2006 law that mandated coverage for nearly everyone...
The report by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care foundation,
showed that the average family premium for plans offered by employers in Massachusetts was $13,788 in 2008,
40 percent higher than in 2003. Over the same period, premiums nationwide rose an average of 33 percent..."


"Massachusetts: the laboratory for ObamaCare
Cato Institute looks a little farther down the coast to Massachusetts, where the state began its own health-care reform complete
with individual mandates and a government plan.
Cato calls it an "almost perfect" mirror of ObamaCare, complete with promises of reducing cost and extending care - that failed in both respects:
Massachusetts shows that such a mandate would oust millions from their low-cost health plans and force them to pay higher premiums. …


"Massachusetts' Obama-like reforms increase health costs, wait times [RomneyCare]
"If you are curious about how President Barack Obama's health plan would affect your health care, look no farther than Massachusetts.
In 2006, the Bay State enacted a slate of reforms that almost perfectly mirror the plan of Obama and congressional Democrats.
.... Premiums are growing 21 to 46 percent faster than the national average
in part because Massachusetts' individual mandate has effectively outlawed affordable health plans.
"


"Mass. Pushes Rationing to Control Universal Healthcare Costs (RomneyCare)
A 10-member Massachusetts state healthcare advisory board unanimously recommended
that the state begin rationing healthcare to keep the state's marquee universal health care program afloat financially.

The July 16 recommendations, the Boston Globe explained, would result in a situation where "patients could find it harder to get procedures they want but are of questionable benefit if doctors are operating within a budget.
And they might find it more difficult to get care wherever they want, if primary doctors push to keep patients within their accountable care organization."
The Globe stressed that the recommendations would "dramatically change how doctors and hospitals are paid, essentially putting providers on a budget as a way to control exploding healthcare costs and improve the quality of care."
"Budget" is a more politically acceptable word for rationing.
The Globe also noted that "consumer advocates said patients are going to have to be educated about the new system." Yes, apparently they will have to get used to having their healthcare rationed.


"Massachusetts Universal Healthcare System Breaking Down Already
When Governor Mitt Romney instituted a universal healthcare plan for Massachusetts in 2006 he proclaimed it a conservative idea.
But has it worked? Has it been successful?
For a time, many thought it might but cracks in the system are already being seen.
These cracks are instructive as a lesson on how Obamacare will crash and burn just like Romneycare is now in the process of doing.

One of the early claims that helped push Romneycare through to law was the insistence by its supporters that Emergency Room visits would fall as more and more citizens became covered under healthcare insurance.
Since ER care is far more expensive than a doctor's care, it was thought that more people with insurance would ease the overcrowding of ERs as well as lower the overall costs of healthcare.
However, a flaw in this logic has been seen throughout the state. As more people became insured, more people demanded the care of doctors. These doctors became overloaded with patients and waiting lists for doctors got longer and longer.
As a result, ERs in Massachusetts have not seen a downturn in visits. On the contrary, it seems that ER visits are actually on the upswing in the Bay State. In fact, in 2007 they were higher than the national average by 20 percent...


"National Health Preview - The Massachusetts debacle, coming soon to your neighborhood."
"Three years ago, the former Massachusetts Governor had the inadvertent good sense to create the "universal" health-care program that the White House and Congress now want to inflict on the entire country.
It is proving to be instructive, as Mr. Romney's foresight previews what President Obama, Max Baucus, Ted Kennedy and Pete Stark are cooking up for everyone else.
In Massachusetts's latest crisis, Governor Deval Patrick and his Democratic colleagues are starting to move down the path that government health plans always follow when spending collides with reality -- i.e., price controls.
As costs continue to rise, the inevitable results are coverage restrictions and waiting periods. It was only a matter of time.

They're trying to manage the huge costs of the subsidized middle-class insurance program that is gradually swallowing the state budget.
The program provides low- or no-cost coverage to about 165,000 residents, or three-fifths of the newly insured, and is budgeted at $880 million for 2010, a 7.3% single-year increase that is likely to be optimistic.
The state's overall costs on health programs have increased by 42% (!) since 2006.

0What really whipped along RomneyCare were claims that health care would be less expensive if everyone were covered.
But reducing costs while increasing access are irreconcilable issues.
Mr. Romney should have known better before signing on to this not-so-grand experiment, especially since the state's "free market" reforms that he boasts about have proven to be irrelevant when not fictional.
Only 21,000 people have used the "connector" that was supposed to link individuals to private insurers."


A Very Sick Health Plan; Bay State's 'Grand Experiment' Fails [RomneyCare]
"The Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, Va. - 2009-03-31 "
"For folks increasingly leery of President Obama's plan to radically overhaul America's health-care system,
or 17 percent of the nation's economy, all this could hardly have come at a better time -
that is, fiscal troubles aplenty within Repubican Mitt Romney's brainchild, Massachusetts' "grand experiment" in "universal" health care."

"Initiated on Mr. Romney's gubernatorial watch in 2006, this "experiment" has fallen on hard times, and predictably so.
Even though the Bay State commenced its program with a far smaller percentage of uninsured residents than exists nationwide,
"RomneyCare" is threatening to bankrupt the state. Budgeted for Fiscal Year 2010 at $880 million,
or 7.3 percent more than a year ago, this plan, aimed at providing low- or no-cost health coverage to roughly 165,000 residents,
has caused Massachusetts' overall expenditures on all health-related programs to jump an astounding 42 percent since 2006.

So what does Mr. Romney's successor, Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, propose as a remedy for these skyrocketing costs?
Well, whaddya think? The standard litany of prescriptions (no pun intended) - price controls and spending caps, for a start, and then, again predictably, waiting periods and limitations on coverage.
As in Europe and Canada, so too in Massachusetts. And, we feel certain, everyone from Mr. Romney to Mr. Patrick said, "It would never happen here."
But then, such things are inevitable when best-laid plans, with all their monstrous costs, run smack-dab into fiscal reality.

56 posted on 07/02/2012 3:33:36 AM PDT by Diogenesis ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. " Pres. Ronald Reagan)
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To: Diogenesis
They hated it after it was implemented.

Remember these are the same citizens who overwhelmingly elected Ted Kennedy and John Kerry as senators. Nuff said.

57 posted on 07/02/2012 3:40:18 AM PDT by saneright
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To: presidio9
The answer for Romney here is to not take the bait. Ignore Romneycare. Romney should just state that he will REPEAL Obamcare starting on day one, will Obama do that? But, but, but, in Massachusetts blah, blah, blah....

I am running for President of the United States. I will REPEAL the HUGE TAX increase that is Obamacare.

We hired Obama to fix our economy and create jobs. After almost FOUR years our economy is still stuck in a ditch, unemployment is still WAY too high, and Obamcare has been declared by the Supreme Court to be a TAX. .......President Obama........ YOU'RE FIRED!

58 posted on 07/02/2012 6:11:31 AM PDT by faucetman ( Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
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To: Diogenesis
What a waste of space. Romneycare is not on the ballot OBAMACARE is. Romneycare is OLD news. Romney has said he will repeal Obamacare starting day one. Are you calling him a liar? Obama won't repeal Obamacare, Romney WILL nuff said!
59 posted on 07/02/2012 6:18:20 AM PDT by faucetman ( Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
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To: faucetman

Yes Mr. RomneyCARE is a proven liar, and backstabber,
and traitor to Conservatives.

Mr. RomneyCARE authored everything Americans HATE.


60 posted on 07/02/2012 6:33:39 AM PDT by Diogenesis ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. " Pres. Ronald Reagan)
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