One of the big ironies of the Massachusetts Senate race is that Republicans want that “41st vote” to stop a health care plan that is VERY similar to the one Scott Brown voted for in 2006. When Cavuto pointed this out, Brown said:
No, that’s not true, they’re two different programs. What we have here is a free-market enterprise where we’re providing insurance in various levels to people in Massachusetts.
Hmm …
A victory by Brown next week would be far healthier (ahem)  for the country than a Coakley win, but I’m afraid his assertion about the “differences” between Romneycare and Obamacare doesn’t pass  muster.
The reality is that the Massachusetts ”universal” health plan contains all the elements, including an individual insurance mandate with a fine for non-compliance, that we hate about Obamacare.
So, I guess another advantage to a Brown victory would be that he’ll have an opportunity to atone for his Romneycare sin by stopping the the madness inside the Beltway.
UPDATE
Here’s an object lesson in why Republicans should never present themselves as “Democrat Lite.” Brown’s Romneycare vote has resulted in some mistrust among conservatives, yet he still gets no respect from the gremlins it was meant to propitiate:
So Brown supports health care exchanges, a mandate, and universal care … but opposes healthcare exhcanges, a mandate and universal care. He is worried about the debt but actually opposes the proposed cuts in Medicare … He is, in other words, a parody of the brainless bush Republican, mixed with Romney-like cynicism.
Such are the wages of me2ism.
Comments 2
Too bad the health care “experiment” we have in Massachusetts is working. 98% of our population has health insurance coverage, my own MA-based group insurance plan has not increased in two years, and the predicted spike in costs has not occurred outside the normal degree of inflation.
Posted 14 Jan 2010 at 2:03 pm ¶OK, Matty, let’s have a look at your “successâ€?:
Since the implementation of Romneycare, Massachusetts insurance premiums have skyrocketed.
Your double-digit annual increases have produced the highest insurance costs in the country.
And what about the cost? So far, your “success� is costing nearly twice (185%) what your brilliant legislators projected.
Moreover, it has created a primary care shortage, and increased wait times for virtually every medical service.
All this for a plan that isn’ even universal (last time I checked “universal� meant everyone, not 98%).
Posted 14 Jan 2010 at 2:05 pm ¶Post a Comment