Giuliani Campaign Press Release - Just the Facts #6: Romney Once Again Runs From Romneycare

Clinton Senate Legislative Director Laurie Rubiner: "It's sort of funny to me that [Romney] would cast it as a big government solution, when it's essentially what he enacted in Massachusetts …" (Ben Smith, "Firing Back," Politico's "Ben Smith Blog," www.politico.com, 9/17/07, Accessed 9/18/07)

On Private Insurance Or Government Insurance …

ROMNEY SAYS: "We Put In Place A Plan That Is Based On Private Insurance And Her Plan Is Based On Government Insurance. … Basically, Hers Is A Government Plan With Government Insurance. Mine Was A Plan That Is Based On Private Insurance In The Private Marketplace." (Fox News' "Fox And Friends," 9/18/07)

BUT ROMNEY DID: RomneyCare Created The "Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector" In Massachusetts Which Is "A Central Mechanism To Connect Individuals And Small Businesses With Health Insurance Products," Through A Pool That "Certifies And Offers [Health Insurance] Products." (Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector, "Health Care Access And Affordability Conference Committee Report," www.mass.gov/legis/summary.pdf, 4/3/06, Accessed 7/25/07)

Health And Welfare Policy Expert Michael Tanner: "The Massachusetts Health Care Connector, Which Restructures The Individual And Small Business Insurance Markets, Is A Form Of Managed Competition That Has The Potential To Severely Limit Consumer Choice." (Michael D. Tanner, "No Miracle in Massachusetts: Why Governor Romney's Health Care Reform Won't Work," Cato Briefing Papers No. 97, 6/6/06)

On Raising Taxes To Pay For It …

ROMNEY SAYS: "Ours Does Not Require New Taxes, [Clinton's] Does." (Fox News' "Fox And Friends," 9/18/07)

ROMNEY DID: RomneyCare's "Play-Or-Pay" Mandate Requires All Businesses With More Than 10 Employees That Do Not Provide A "Fair And Reasonable" Contribution To Workers' Health Insurance To Pay A Fee Up To $295 Per Employee Per Year. (David A. Hyman, "The Massachusetts Health Plan: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly," Cato Institute Policy Analysis, 6/28/07)

Unless Employers Create A "Cafeteria Plan" That Employees Can Purchase On A Pre-Tax Basis, They Face A "Free Rider Surcharge" Of Up To 100% Of The Cost Of Care Of All Their Employees In Excess Of $50,000. (Michael D. Tanner, "No Miracle in Massachusetts: Why Governor Romney's Health Care Reform Won't Work," Cato Briefing Papers No. 97, 6/6/06)

Health And Welfare Policy Expert Michael Tanner: Romney's Health Care Plan That Was "Certainly A Tax Increase On" Businesses. "'This is certainly a tax increase on business,' declared Mike Tanner, health-care analyst at the free-market Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. He called the requirement that everyone get health insurance 'unprecedented in terms of government interference in people's lives.'" (Brett Amends, "For Romney, Reforms May Be Just What Doctor Ordered," Boston Herald, 4/6/06)

Massachusetts Will Pay $1.6 Billion For RomneyCare In 2007, Rising 12.5% To $1.8 Billion In 2008, The First Full Year It's Implemented. (Aliza Marcus, "Romney's Health Care For All May Deteriorate In A Cash Squeeze," Bloomberg, www.bloomberg.com, 7/27/07, Accessed 7/30/07)

The Price Tag For RomneyCare, Given Current Trends, May Outstrip Current Program Funds, Likely Leading To Higher Taxes. "If U.S. health costs continue to rise about twice as fast as wages, the price tag may outstrip the available state tax and other revenue, some of the program's architects say. Insurers may no longer be able to offer the same low-cost plans they negotiated with the state, industry representatives say … Tax increases may be needed to keep the program going, said Robert Blendon, a health economist at Harvard University in Cambridge. (Aliza Marcus, "Romney's Health Care For All May Deteriorate In A Cash Squeeze," Bloomberg, www.bloomberg.com, 7/27/07, Accessed 7/30/07)

On New Bureaucracies …

ROMNEY SAYS: "I Think She Takes Her Inspiration From European Bureaucracies And Instead We Should Take Our Inspiration From The American People." (Michael Luo, "Clinton's Rivals Blast Health Care Plan," The New York Times' "The Caucus" Blog, 9/17/07, Accessed 9/18/07)

ROMNEY DID: The Boston Globe's Lisa Wangsness Noted "Key Elements Of Hillary Clinton's Healthcare Proposal Are Strikingly Similar To The Tenets Of The Health Overhaul That Mitt Romney Signed Into Law In Massachusetts Last Year." (Lisa Wangsness, "In Ways, Clinton Healthcare Plan Resembles Romney's Mass. Solution," The Boston Globe, 9/18/07)

The Associated Press: RomneyCare "Broke New Ground" In Sharing Responsibilities Between Government, Businesses And Individuals. "As governor of Massachusetts, Romney pushed a plan that requires state residents to get health insurance or face tax penalties. The law includes a new bureaucracy to implement it, government subsidies for the poor and guidelines for health insurance companies. The effort broke new ground by sharing responsibility between government, business and individuals." (Ron Fournier, "Analysis: Health Care Debate Reveals Much About Clinton, Romney," The Associated Press, 9/18/07)

The Boston Globe: The "Central Premise" Of HillaryCare 2.0 Is "Precisely What Romney Proposed" In Massachusetts. "But the central premise of Clinton's plan – an 'individual mandate' requiring that every American have health insurance – is precisely what Romney proposed in the Bay State, in what was seen as a bold approach to attaining universal coverage. The idea became a pillar of the law, which he signed in April 2006." (Lisa Wangsness, "In Ways, Clinton Healthcare Plan Resembles Romney's Mass. Solution," The Boston Globe, 9/18/07)

Hillary Clinton Called RomneyCare "Commendable." "The proposal, approved Tuesday by Massachusetts' Democratic-led Legislature, won Romney cautious praise from Democrats, including a longtime champion of health care overhaul: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. 'To come up with a bipartisan plan in this polarized environment is commendable,' said the former first lady, who led President Clinton's failed health care campaign." (Ron Fournier, "Romney's Health Care Plan Draws Praise From Hillary Clinton, Talk Of '08 Bid," The Associated Press, 4/5/06)

RomneyCare's "Key Architect," MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber, Has Said He'd Like To See RomneyCare Become A National Plan. "A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Gruber was a key architect of the state's universal coverage law, which fully came into force on July 1. It was the top accomplishment of Republican Gov. Mitt Romney's administration. His basic idea is to take that approach nationwide. That would require a mandate that people get insurance but provide generous subsidies for the poor to get insured. Businesses that don't offer coverage would be penalized. Federal programs like Medicaid would be expanded." (Sean Higgins, "Key Mass. Health Plan Architect," Investor's Business Daily, 7/31/07)

And Gruber Has Consulted With Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) Campaign. "[Jonathan Gruber] also has consulted with the presidential campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and former senator John Edwards, among others." (Sean Higgins, "Key Mass. Health Plan Architect," Investor's Business Daily, 7/31/07)