Romney's ObamaCare Lie

On October 3, 2012 Romney said Obama pushed through the Affordable Health Care Act without a single Republican vote. I checked and found one site that said one Republican voted for it and another that said zero Republicans did; both sites said Republican Jim Bunning of Kentucky didn’t vote at all so I guess I’ll give Romney the benefit of the doubt and say this is one truth that he told.   

Romney brought up the ObamaCare 15 member board that he says will tell people what care they can have. This is current practice for insurance companies - they exclude those people with preexisting conditions and pick and choose what surgeries and/or drugs a consumer can have - however this is not what the board does. The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is a 15-member US government agency created in 2010 by sections 3403 and 10320 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which has the explicit task of achieving specified savings in Medicare without affecting coverage or quality. IPAB was created as a strengthened version of the current Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) that has no regulatory power-under previous law changes to Medicare payment rates and program rules are recommended by MedPAC but require an act of Congress to take effect. The new system grants IPAB the authority to make changes to the Medicare program and provides Congress with the power to overrule the agency's decisions through supermajority vote. This was just another lie by Romney.

I find it interesting that Romney continues to hound the President on the passage of ObamaCare. He said having ObamaCare whisks away the 10^th Amendment which allows the states to handle this issue. If this were true then Medicare, Medicaid and other programs would not come under the federal umbrella. Also, if he feels this way then why is he saying that there are parts he likes and would implement a bill to replace it? I find this to be more double talk. Romney is the first to agree with President Franklin Pierce’s 1854 decision to veto a bill saying he believed social welfare was the responsibility of the states. Romney’s position is not taking us forward.