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Romney invokes Massachusetts health law ahead of Republican convention
By Elise Viebeck - 08/25/12 06:00 AM ET
Mitt Romney is invoking his Massachusetts healthcare law in the lead-up to the Republican convention, alarming conservatives who argue it’s a losing issue for his campaign.
Romney's new willingness to talk about the issue could be a sign that he thinks the Massachusetts law could help him in November.
"My healthcare plan I put in place in my state has everyone insured," Romney told a CBS reporter on Thursday. In a second interview, he called the law an "important accomplishment" that is "working, by and large, pretty well."
Romney has consistently defended his healthcare overhaul, but has not made it a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. The law inspired parts of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which remains anathema to conservatives.
The convention in Tampa, which serves as a showcase for Romney’s career in business and politics, will almost certainly have to address the Massachusetts law in some way.
"He'll have to strike a delicate balance on the Massachusetts law," said Potomac Strategy Group President Matt Mackowiak.
"It's in his nature to defend something that he signed, but it's not a winning issue. … The truth is, he doesn't need to go there."
The Massachusetts law contained the same central elements as the federal healthcare reform plan, most notably an individual mandate to have health insurance.
Conservatives argue the federal mandate is a breathtaking expansion of federal power, and say Romney neutralizes criticism of the Affordable Care Act and, by extension, Obama, when he touts a law with a similar requirement.
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Romney's recent healthcare comments recall his performance during primary debates, when, under fire from opponents about the Massachusetts system, he expressed pride in "caring about people."
"We have less than 1 percent of our kids [in Massachusetts] who are uninsured," Romney told Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) in an October 2011 debate. "You have a million kids."
This doesn't surprise me since the mandate was originally the proposal of the Republicans/conservatives- and for the past 30+ years their answer to fixing the health care insurance coverage problem...
They didn't start whining against it until Obama proposed it- and some of the radical right started wetting down their legs ...