While President Barack Obama touted the success of Mitt Romney's health care model in Boston this week, it remains unclear whether its results can be replicated in Obamacare, Gabrielle Gurley writes at the Guardian.
President Obama parachuted into Boston this week to wax nostalgic about Massachusetts healthcare reform.
Flanked by his good friend Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and cheered by a friendly crowd (minus a few anti-Keystone XL pipeline hecklers), it was clear why the president felt "good to be back in Boston". Under siege after the disastrous website launch of his own national healthcare exchange, Obama hoped to boost the fortunes of his own signature achievement – for a few minutes in the news cycle at least – by showcasing some of its similarities to the country's first successful universal health care reform effort.
Let me give you the Massachusetts perspective.
Seven years ago then-Governor Mitt Romney, flanked by Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy and a phalanx of state lawmakers and other officials, signed the legislation that became the template for Obamacare. "Romneycare", like Obamacare, was built on "ideas about markets and competition that had long been championed by conservatives", said Obama who used the same downtown Boston venue, the historic Faneuil Hall, to make his pitch.
In a 2006 address, Romney called the state's healthcare law, which created a new marketplace where people could research and buy healthcare plans vetted by state officials, a "once in a generation opportunity".
Read Gabrielle Gurley's entire piece at the Guardian.
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