Presidential candidate Mitt Romney broke out the charts and graphs on Thursday to explain the differences between Obamacare and the health care program he put in place while governor of Massachusetts. It’s an issue that will certainly cause him problems as the race goes forward, especially considering the nation’s disapproval of the Obama health care law.
Fox News reports that Romney was in Michigan on Thursday (a key early primary state) to explain why Obamacare is bad but also why the state-run health care plan he implemented was good.
“Our plan was a state solution to a state problem and his is a power grab on the federal government to put in place a one-size-fits-all plan across the nation,” he said.
“I know some of my more liberal friends don’t find that a compelling difference,” he said. “But those of us who believe the decision to make America a federalist system was not just a throwaway decision on an important fundamental element of what makes America such a successful nation and that is something of course is lost in ObamaCare.”
A Rasmussen Reports poll released this week shows that 57% of respondents (likely U.S. voters) favor the repeal of Obama’s health care law. Only 36% oppose repeal. Those are serious numbers, and it’s because of those numbers that Romney is on the hot seat.
In an op-ed in USA Today, Romney wrote, “If I am elected president, I will issue on my first day in office an executive order paving the way for waivers from ObamaCare for all 50 states. Subsequently, I will call on Congress to fully repeal ObamaCare.”
Romney made a great run in 2008, and he is certainly among the frontrunners this time around. But how much will the health care issue hurt? In the Fox News story, fellow presidential candidate and former Sen. Rick Santorum said, “Both Romneycare and Obamacare infringe upon individual freedom and exponentially increase the government’s healthcare cost burden. Romneycare has, in fact, not made healthcare better or saved costs in Massachusetts. It’s done just the opposite.”
So what do you think? Is Romney still the guy to beat?
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