Romney Health Care

On August 30, 2012 Romney said with him as president “That united America will care for the poor and the sick”. Romney on December 10, 2011 said “The states need to decide health care, not the feds, I’ll strike down ObamaCare”. This message was echoed until his convention speech “…We must reign in the skyrocketing costs of health care by repealing and replacing ObamaCare”. A week later on Meet the Press Romney said “I’m not getting rid of all health care reform of course, there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I’m gonna put in place, one is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage” and extended coverage for children. The Romney campaign said that ObamaCare makes insurance companies cover people with pre-existing conditions, Romney’s plan would put it over to the states to create a sort of marketplace for patients to buy insurance (a marketplace is a marketplace).

The US has been trying to get health care of some type since 1854 when President Franklin Pierce vetoed a bill saying he believed social welfare was the responsibility of the states. President Theodore Roosevelt (1901—1909) believed that no country could be strong whose people were sick and poor and as such supported health insurance, ever since we have been pursuing a national health care program. Over and over again Presidents tried and failed - 1935 Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1949 Harry Truman, 1974 Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan who managed to get the current 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act that requires hospital emergency rooms to accept patients regardless of their ability to pay); this Act doesn’t provide access to non-emergency preventive care which is generally less expensive. In 2004 George W. Bush tried, John McCain had a plan when he was running for president in 2008 and Barack Obama succeeded in 2010. Health care is a national issue, a 2009 American Journal of Medicine report stated: 62% of bankruptcies are due to medical costs (75% were insured), bankruptcies between 2001-2007 rose 50% due to medical problems and the largest single out-of-pocket expense for 48% of patients was hospital bills. Per the International Labor Organization nearly 50 countries had universal or near-universal health coverage. On June 28, 2012 it’s reported that the US stands almost entirely alone among developed nations that lack universal health care.

Now to the poor; Republicans want to reduce the entitlements (like food stamps) they need and I heard no plan on how they would be cared for so I have to assume this more double talk. Without ObamaCare Republicans would have done nothing to provide health care for those without and now because it’s working and they don’t want to burden insurance companies it’s put on the states. Romney wants to take us back to 1854. I say let’s not go back, let’s move forward.