At Monday night’s GOP debate in Tampa, Mitt Romney continued to defend the health care law he signed as governor of Massachusetts while insisting that Barack Obama’s signature Obamacare law ought to be repealed. Romney contrasted his “Romneycare” plan with the president’s law as best as he could.
“If you think what we did in Massachusetts and what President Obama did are the same, boy, take a closer look,” he said. In addition to repealing Obamacare, Romney said he would also “direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to grant a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states” on his first day in office.
The response from Romney’s Republican opponents, meanwhile, was less aggressive than in debates past. Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann argued that states had no constitutional right to mandate the purchase of goods or services, a direct hit on the Massachusetts plan’s mandate, while Texas governor Rick Perry pushed against the plan for its similarities to Obama’s health care law.
“The fact of the matter is that [Romneycare] was the plan that President Obama has said himself was the model for Obamacare,” Perry said. “And I think any of us who know that that piece of legislation will draw a line between the doctor-patient relationship, that will cost untold billions of dollars. It is not right for this country, and frankly I don’t think it was right for Massachusetts when you look at what it’s costing the people of Massachusetts today.”
Romney playfully shot back. “I’d be careful about trusting what President Obama says as to what the source was to his plan,” he said, arguing there are major policy differences between the two laws. “He raised taxes $500 billion and helped slow down the U.S. economy by doing. We didn’t raise taxes. He cut Medicare by $500 billion.…We dealt with the people in our state that were uninsured, some nine percent. His bill deals with 100 percent of the people. He puts in place a panel that ultimately is going to tell people what kind of care they can have. We didn’t do anything like that.” There was little else said about Romneycare for the rest of the night.
So why was the criticism of Romney on health care policy so muted this time around? For one thing, since he began running for president this year Romney’s positions on Romneycare and Obamacare have been fairly well established. Republicans who won’t vote for Romney because of his health care law in Massachusetts are aware of the policy. Even this early in the process, spending debate time on criticizing Romneycare may have diminishing marginal returns.
But consider also that Romney’s defense, regardless of its merits, is more fluid than it has been in the past. The candidate, often criticized for his rigidity, has become more comfortable in discussing what is arguably his biggest weakness in the Republican primary. “The people of Massachusetts favor our plan by three to one,” Romney said. “And states can make their own choices. I’m happy to stand up for what we did.”
Romney has become more skillful, too, of shifting the focus of the health care debate away from his Massachusetts past and toward his policy proposals for the future. Answering a question about bringing down the cost of health care—as opposed to health insurance—Romney explained how the costs of care are hidden from consumers. “The person who receives care in America generally doesn’t care how much it costs, because once they’ve paid their deductible, it’s free,” he explained. “And the provider, the more they do, the more they get paid. We have something that’s not working like a market, it’s working like a government utility.”
Romney’s decision early on in his presidential run not to disavow Romneycare certainly cost him credibility with the Republican base, many of whom were already wary of the former governor after his failed effort to court conservatives in the 2008 cycle. But the recent attacks on Romney, such as they were, for his health care positions just aren’t sticking like his opponents would hope. As the economy continues to suffer and the memory of both Romneycare (passed and signed into law in 2006) and the Obamacare debate of 2009 and 2010 fades, Republican primary voters at a whole may not balk at the flip-flopping Massachusetts governor.
That’s at least what the Romney campaign is hoping.
