During a more than 10-minute back-and-forth on health care largely between Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Romney ended up delivering a lengthy justification for his state's decision to pass a 2006 law that included requiring nearly every resident to either have health insurance or pay a tax penalty.You mean free riders might be a problem? You mean people who will get treated regardless of whether they can pay have some responsibility to help support the system? Wow, the Republicans are completely screwed this election cycle. Either they nominate somebody like Gingrich who will get destroyed in the election barring a Depression, or they nominate the guy who gives the most eloquent defense for Obamacare. Serves the idiots right. Until the Republican Party can begin to rationally discuss economic and social issues in this country, they deserve to be thrashed in every election. As long as the base is delusional, they are going to struggle in national elections.
"If you don't want to buy insurance, then you have to help pay for the cost of the state picking up your bill, because under federal law if someone doesn't have insurance, then we have to care for them in the hospitals, give them free care," said Romney. "So we said, no more, no more free riders. We are insisting on personal responsibility. Either get the insurance or help pay for your care."
"Does everybody in Massachusetts have a requirement to buy health care?" asked Santorum?
"Everyone has a requirement to either buy it or pay the state for the cost of providing them free care," Romney shot back. "Because the idea of people getting something for free when they could afford to care for themselves is something that we decided in our state was not a good idea."
Monday, January 30, 2012
The Party of Personal Resposibility?
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It is pretty clear the Republicans are far away from having all of the answers. That said, you have to give them credit for listening to the American people. People overwhelming poll/vote against Obamacare and even states are suing the federal government to repeal it. Seems to me that if any party deserves to be “thrashed” we should start with Democrats. They got a taste of it when they lost the house or have you forgotten already? When do our representatives actually represent the beliefs of their constituents instead of their ego’s and personal ideology? When Democrats start listening to the majority instead of the vocal minority they might actually find themselves with support. It is going to be the overriding factor of why Obama is a one termer. They might also take time to remember Thatcher explaining how all of these social agenda’s eventually come to a head. “The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of everybody else’s money.”
ReplyDeleteThe Democrats got thrashed because their base didn't turn out in 2010. The base will turn out in 2012, so it will at least be a close election. The opposition to Obamacare includes a sizable number of people who think the bill wasn't socialist enough. Also, the opposition is mainly against the individual mandate. My point is that if people were able to afford it, they should be responsible enough to buy health insurance. Nobody can guarantee they won't get injured, and if they do get injured, we aren't going to let them die. That is why I can't understand how the "party of personal responsibility" is against the mandate, especially since it was their idea in the '90s.
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