White House Reacts To Mitt Romney's Speech: He Took A 'Smart Approach Toward Health Care'

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration, on Friday, continued to apply a veritable death hug to likely Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, praising the health care law he passed as Massachusetts’ governor despite Romney’s insistence that there were major distinctions between his and the president’s approach.

“We have said before that health care reform that then Governor Romney signed into law in Massachusetts is in many ways similar to the legislation that resulted in the Affordable Care Act,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in an off-camera briefing at the White House. “And as to the issue of flexibility, as you know, earlier this year we made quite a big deal out of the fact that the president wanted to move up to 2014 … the starting point at which states can ask for waivers to opt out of the Affordable Care Act as long as they, of course, demonstrate their capacity with their own ideas to achieve the same objectives.”

“We wholly endorse flexibility and we obviously feel that Massachusetts took a smart approach towards health care reform,” the press secretary added. “Its provenance was so mainstream, there are great similarities between Massachusetts' law, the Affordable Care Act and legislation proposed by then Rhode Island Republican [Senator] John Chafee in 1993.”

Coming less than a full day after Romney delivered a high-profile speech calling for the Affordable Care Act’s repeal and replacement, Carney’s comments are another reflection of just how hard it will be for the former governor to erase the notion that he is a philosophical proponent of the president’s bill.

Romney has argued that his approach to health care reform should only be considered on a state-by-state basis. It is the federal government’s insistence that a set of standards be applied nationally -- chief among them that individuals be forced to purchase insurance -- that serves as the linchpin for his argument against the Affordable Care Act.

But there are holes to that theory, as Carney notes. By allowing states to opt out of the law (Vermont, for instance, is set to do so in favor of a single-payer system), the ACA does allow for flexibility. And, in a bit of irony, it was Romney’s Massachusetts GOP colleague -- Sen. Scott Brown -- who co-authored the amendment to make that opt-out clause come into fruition sooner.

Comments

[mjtaylor22]

11:43 AM on 05/16/2011

He won't make it......a majority of republicans are full of crap..Buy Romney..Has crap coming out of all orifices....for all to see......he doesn't even sound sincere.....

[Okieborn]

11:38 AM on 05/16/2011

Romney did a great thing with his healthcare and now he rejects the plan to be accepted by the republicans, Go Figure !

[4RealMan]

01:46 PM on 05/16/2011

sad but true. Republican voters are just too simple minded.

[Tone67]

08:37 AM on 05/16/2011

Hatred of Healthcare reform aka "Obamacare" by the right is steeped in ignorance and hypocrisy. I would surmise that 90% of that hatred is based on lies spread by fox news and insurance companies. Some of the people who oppose healthcare reform so much are benefiting from medicare and medicaid as they tote dont tread on me flags, some of those very people are benefiting right now from it and dont even know it. When myths are replaced with facts then they dumb it down to "it costs too much" or "dont run up the national debt because of my kids future yada yada yada" but they dont do much in the way of preparing for their kids future on the homefront themselves. I remember when Trent Lott was on a crusade to save insurance companies from frivolous lawsuits, his crusade ended when Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home and he didnt have flood insurance, (thats hypocrisy). I think every GOP senator and congressman should give up their government funded and administered healthcare plan, everyone who decries Obama is a socialist should give up their social security benefits as well as medicare or medicaid benefits and stop being hypocrits.

[sanddc]

06:25 AM on 05/16/2011

I can be selfish and say go right ahead and repeal the law because I have great health care. That would be inconsiderate and lacking compassion for the less fortunate who are without coverage. My reply to those who can afford it and want it repealed because of personal reasons are really being inconsiderate to the less fortunate. America, will never have a healthcare program that has to accept your pre-existing condition again in your life time.Man never misses something good until it's no longer there for their use. Maybe,A merica is waitng on Ryan's Affordable
Health Care Act to become law someday.

As the old people would say" it's better to have something than nothing at all".

[sandracoston]

11:27 AM on 05/16/2011

You should realize that the afford affordable care act will in fact affect those who have insurance when fully implemented ...Insurance companies will have to compete with many more companies thus lowering prices on premiums...you know longer have to worry that when you change jobs you lose coverage , Insurance companies can no longer cap the amount they will cover, no more dropping or rejecting those with pre existing illness like asthma or C sections...this is not just reform for the uninsured it is for all that pay in for years and when they suddenly find them selves in need are told they aren't covered, not to mention the fact that we as tax payers will no longer have to foot the bill for the uninsured..this is such a win win on so many levels it surprises me why so many reject it..the cost of the mandates will be based on a sliding scale of affordability and the fact that everyone is in the cost to individuals would be minimal...so what is not to like..ask those who live in Massachuetts...Every child is covered and 98% of adults.

[4RealMan]

01:49 PM on 05/16/2011

the problem is the dems don't know how to sell their great ideas to the mass. they need to do what Faux Entertainment News and repubs do: dumb it down.

[sanddc]

06:12 AM on 05/16/2011

I often wonder why should President Obama care about the people being covered and fought to have this health care law passed for the American;s people.

If President Bush and Cheney would have cared enough to bring forth a bill a third as good as this,I believe the people in America would have pouted for a second and ran out and bought Affordable Health Care without a problem.

And believe me they would not have been calling it Bushcare either. Evidently,since they did not care and thought fighting war was their top prioroity over healthcare should show America how much they really care if you got sick.

[Okieborn]

11:36 AM on 05/16/2011

Thank You !

[sandracoston]

11:36 AM on 05/16/2011

I think that one of the most important thing missing from this debate is the deficit. the rising cost of healthcare is the biggest cause in our deficit...this reform not only gives coverage to those in need it also lowers the deficit in the long run..why is it that the democrats aren't out there talking about this ..especially with Paul Ryan's plan to cut medicare and turn it into a voucher program..Subsidies for insurance companies will be eliminated in the health care bill thus trimming millions off the cost of medicare..it also limits the amount insurance companies can spend on advertising and puts more on actual care..so I ask again how is this not a win win for all of us ..deficit hawks included..

[4RealMan]

01:51 PM on 05/16/2011

the Dems should be talking about this EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK and running weekly ads explaining the benefits in VERY SIMPLE terms so even the low I.Q repub voter can understand.

[sanddc]

06:00 AM on 05/16/2011

I have paid for my healthcare for 32 years while I was working and I am still paying for it out of my retirement check to date. Why should I depend on the govermnment paying for my health care when I can and able to pay for it myself. I feel blessed knowing if I am sick I don't have to wait or worry about being seen or treated to recieve the best care.

If I had to chose between owning a car or medical coverage,I would choose the medical coverage because I could always ride the bus or get a ride to the doctor.

There are two many people who opposes the mandate of this law and haven't taken three minutes to read one page of it.It's not the law I would say 60% of American opposes but the person who was able to get it passed and that the bigger part of the problem and that why they calls it Obamacare instead of thanking God someone cares enough to fight for the passage of this bill. If I could have kept my children on my insurance until they were 26 I would have saved thousands of
dollars while they were away at grad school. My insurance dropped them at the age of 22 and we had to pay or help pay their monthly premiuns until they had finished their degrees.

[sandracoston]

11:44 AM on 05/16/2011

You are so right...My husband and I too had to pay for insurance for our four children while they were still in college...kind of a double wammy for us..what is not known is that tucked into the affordable care act are real incentives to the student loan program...the banks are no longer given subsidies for doing nothing and the students reap the benefits..this is also what happens to insurance companies that were given subsidies in the medicare part D program..thus money being spent more on seniors and less on advertising...People who are listening to the fear tactics by the right should really look at how this benefits them instead of like you say just looking at who passed this law...

[Koreanovice]

11:45 AM on 05/16/2011

Obamacares!

[sanddc]

05:18 AM on 05/16/2011

My question I asks to all you that bucks the idea of everyone having affordable healthcare in this country who can pay for it and why not?

It's a mandate for everyone who drives a car to have a driver license- we pay for the licenses.

We are mandated to have insurance on all our cars or any moveable vehicles and if we are caught with out it they take the car and writes tickest for higher fees-we pay for that.

If we are dogs owner we are mandated to buy licenses for our dogs , to walk them down the streets and we pay for that.

Since we can purchase everything that mandated by our local, state or federal government with out a big debate why wouldn't we buy health insurance for the most important reason in our lives. To protect our one and only life and our love ones lives also.


Affordable Health Care will no longer be needed when you are dead.

[sanddc]

04:52 AM on 05/16/2011

If a man will not stand for something or great achievements he created,he will just flip-flop and and fall and take anything in life.

I would be so proud to say I created a health plan for the state Mass. and it works for the people of my state until I probably would never get through smiling and patting myself on the back.

This is one reason people will not vote for Romney because it shows him to be weak whereas what he created should have him leading the pack in the Republican presidential race.

Whether you win or lose never run away from your achievements in life. That the only time a man is suppose to stand up and take credit for his good work. Are you going to be able to stand if you created a piece of work like Paul Ryan? Ryan seems so happy to present his Path to Death program so you should have been even prouder for what you had done.

[Nordean Baxter]

10:43 PM on 05/15/2011

I don't blame the politicians. I blame the people who vote for idiots like the R epublicans. These people hate Americans. All of them. . I know there are some bad democracts. But democrats don't take all of the money and leave poor people with nothing.. Republicans take everything. Look at the last 3 Republican Presidents. Regan left us with a huge deficit and left poor people poorer. He attacked A small island for nothing. Old man Bush left us in the same shape that his son did. He lasted one term. the housingh market was in the toliet,as was the economy. His son Bush jr.left us with a 8 or 9 triilion dollar deficit, two wars unpaid for, Medicare unpaid for, and a lot of dead people. They hate women and children of all races. Ask Kyle of Arizona? They hate poor people ask Jim Bunning of Kentucky and his friend McConnel. Ask the people of Glouster, Ohio about the speaker of the house Boener, what has he done for them?
We are all in the same boat called America. If the boat sink, all will sink. AMERICA BE SMART AND SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT.. LOOK AT HIS RECORD AND IF YOU FIND ANYTHING THAT IS NOT FOR THE GOOD OF ALL THE PEOPLE THEN YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO HATE HIM AND NOT VOTE FOR HIM.. I think if you look carefully you will love him anf vote for him.

[Operator37]

09:55 PM on 05/15/2011

You can run but you can't hide homie.

[cimbri]

06:45 PM on 05/15/2011

I support Romney for President. He just had the bad luck of Obamacare coming right after the Mass. plan, so in order for "conservatives" to remain consistent, they have to attack Romney on his plan as well. It's all about State's Rights to me. Mass. citizens demanded a universal plan and Romney signed the most right of center plan he could get.

[sandracoston]

11:55 AM on 05/16/2011

Do you know that Obama has given wavers to all governors in all the states to change or reform the bill as long as it meets all the goals stated in the bill...affordability for all, lower cost, and deficit reducing...so I wonder why it is that you support someone who not only runs away from a great achievement he is also deceiving the American people when he says he would repeal it because the states should adapt healthcare to meet the needs of individual states, when this is exactly what Obama has offered..come on people please become more aware...the people wanted universal healthcare so Romney signed the right of center plan ..and Obama did the same thing under the same circumstances..and if I had to guess you will never allow yourself to see these truths because it came from Obama and not those you covet on the right ..so sad for this country..

[carbec]

06:28 PM on 05/15/2011

Smart move, Obama. Keep praising Romney for his Progressive health care plan. It is working just fine in Massachusetts, just as it will in every state (in Vermont it will work better).

[Neico]

03:19 PM on 05/15/2011

Who cares about Ole Mickey...I was going for Huckabee, the preacher.

A preacher and a politician....can those two worlds exist inside of Huckabee??

[JanineMarie]

07:31 AM on 05/15/2011

Why would you trust a man who lies about something good. He wants to be president so bad, he does not care what he says. This is only the beginning. Stay tuned, more lies to come, at the expense of everyone else. How Republican of him.

[carbec]

06:31 PM on 05/15/2011

He changes stances so much he must forget where he actually stands. Willard Romney will say anything, anything, to be nominated. In his speech defending himself, he mentioned something about "that would not be honest." Does he think we believe he is honest? Ha!

[Topps]

06:34 AM on 05/16/2011

That's just it he stands for nothing.It's all about what's working now he'll jump from wagon to wagon hoping to get a permanent ride.

[Totto]

10:44 PM on 05/14/2011

Mittsy made a speech? Who knew?

[libwithaclue]

10:00 AM on 05/15/2011

You mean, Who cares? Mittens is more boring than boring.