Obamacare vs. Romneycare: Is there a difference?
Mitt Romney says his Massachusetts health reform plan is much better than Obama's. He claims it's different in important ways. Here's a more careful look.
Obamacare vs. Romneycare: Is there a difference?
by Robert I. Field, Ph.D., J.D., M.P.H.
Mitt Romney says his Massachusetts health reform plan is much better than Obama’s. He claims it’s different in important ways.
If there are big differences, it’s difficult to find them.
In an interview last week with a Denver TV station, Romney cited the key features that differentiate his reform approach from Obama’s.
He declared, “My health care plan I put in place in my state has everyone insured, but we didn’t go out and raise taxes on people and have a unelected board tell people what kind of health care they can have.”
Let’s do some quick fact checking.
Does Romneycare have everyone insured? Close, but not fully there. The plan cut the state’s rate of uninsurance by almost half. As of 2010, the rate was just over 6% for the nonelderly population, the lowest of any state. That’s a huge accomplishment, but there is still a ways to go before everyone has coverage.
Did Romneycare raise taxes? No, but the state didn’t need to. It covered the cost of reform with larger payments that it negotiated from the federal government for its Medicaid program.
Does Romneycare have an unelected board that tells people what kinds of health care they can have? It does. The Massachusetts Connector Authority serves as the state’s insurance exchange. It sets standards for the types of plans that may be sold, thereby determining the kind of access residents will have to health care services.
Is Obamacare any different? Not really.
It will extend coverage to 30 million more people, which will reduce the country’s rate of uninsurance by about half to roughly 8 percent. Not too different from Romneycare.
It does raise taxes in a number of ways, including new levies on tanning salons, medical devices, and high-end insurance policies. But, unlike Massachusetts, it doesn’t have a higher level of government to turn to for help, so it needs a new source of revenue to cover the cost.
It does let unelected officials determine what kind of insurance people can receive by setting standards for coverage under the state exchanges that will sell it. Just like Romneycare.
Romney’s comment about an unelected board was probably also a reference to a new board that Obamacare created called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). It recommends cost-cutting measures under Medicare. Romney, along with several fellow Republicans, has complained about the scope of its power. But Romneycare is a state-based program while Medicare is purely federal. It couldn’t have included an IPAB or any other measure concerning Medicare, even if Romney had wanted it to.
After all is said and done, these aspects of the plans are relatively minor, anyway. In their underlying structure, Obamacare and Romneycare are almost identical.
Both expand coverage in the same three ways. They reform the market for individual insurance by creating exchanges to sell it, subsidizing those with low incomes, and mandating that everyone maintain coverage in some form. They expand Medicaid to cover more people. And they penalize employers who don’t offer coverage to their workers.
Romney and his fellow Republicans should be proud that Obama copied their health reform approach. Instead of drawing false distinctions between the two plans, they should boast of leading on health reform and leaving Obama and Democrats to follow.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
All these stories by the liberal press are so slanted towards the left, to make socialist Obama look good.— dan39564- liberal rag— psualum
- The big difference is a move towards centralized planning, something our founding fathers deplored - as should we, because for every new entitlement and regulation, we incrementally forfeit freedom and liberty. Romney wins and the emperor occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Ave packs.— KeepRight
- i just went my doctors for a checkup we began to talk about the healthcare ( mind you he voted for the President in 08) The healthcare is costing him & the doctors money. He stated to me that he will not be fool again. He will vote for Romney— bigguy1
- Insure them all and let God sort them out.— Thelonius Monk
- To date, the best comment I have ever heard, about Obama care was, "Obama care will burden the health system with to many people",my thought is, if you need health care you ain't waitin for Obama care you will burden the system whether you are covered or not.— Thelonius Monk
- The biggest difference is 30 million who won't be covered if Republicans can undo the ACA. And there are additional millions who would lose their "donut hole" coverage. Only a single-payer health care system will end the ripoff of for-profit health insurance. 15-25% of health care dollars go to admin costs, compared to about 2% of VA costs. Paul Krugman has nailed it: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/opinion/Krugman.html?_r=1&hp— Jinchesco
- Grover Norquist, the GOP's wonderboy is married to a muslim, and is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood.— gordon7
- @Live--You are TOTALLY incorrect. This country was not founded by the states. The United States begins with the ratification of the Constitution. The first words are: "We the people." This is an important distinction. Many of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention did want to make the document something created by the states, with wording to that effect, but this was rejected in favor of a strong federal government. Under the Articles of Confederation it was a "We the States" kind of government, the Confederacy did the same thing. How did those governments work out long term? I know that to understand this requires reading and study and not just listening to Rush and Hannity so I am sure you will reject it.— mick-of-the-moment
One big difference....People in MA wanted it....the American people didn't.- @bannedrepublican--Did the House and Senate vote on it, or did Obama's Kenyan death squads mandate it?— mick-of-the-moment
- It was a corrupt bill rammed through by democrats.....the people were not represented.
- Sarah Palin said the author is in no position to make any commentary, he just has a big fat resume and can not quote the cliff notes of any Ayn Rand book.— mick-of-the-moment
- @bannedrepublican--If the bill was "corrupt" shouldn't the Supreme Court have found it unconstitutional? Exactly what does "rammed through" mean? Was a vote conducted? Were the votes counted? Are you saying that bills passed in a Democratic Congress are "corrupt" and "rammed through" and but bills in a Republican Congress have integrity? Are there different voting procedures under a Democratic Congress and a different standard of Constitutionality used by a Supreme Court evaluating a bill passed by a Democratic Congress?— mick-of-the-moment
- Any article that examines facts and exposes distortion will be called a rag or supporting a socialist agenda. These people are morons who can't even bear to hear their arguments and candidates picked apart.— phil80
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