In a surprising move, Mitt Romney seemingly took credit on Friday for inspiring the Affordable Care Act – after famously running as the 2012 Republican nominee on a platform of repealing the law. In his original comments, Romney discussed a chronology of events that he claimed started with Romneycare in Massachusetts and culminated with the creation of Obamacare for the entire country, according to CNN on Friday. That is our work.
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After the Globe story published, Romney responded with a statement Friday saying he is still opposed to ObamaCare.
“On day one of my administration, I’ll direct the secretary of Health and Human Services to grant a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states. So, without Tom a lot of people wouldn’t have health insurance”, Romney continued.
The Boston Globe’s Taryn Luna quoted Romney praising the late Staples founder, Thomas Stemberg, for pushing him to expand healthcare reform in Massachusetts.
By connecting the Massachusetts law with the federal law, Romney is implicitly giving himself credit for Obamacare, and in the process confirming that his previous criticisms of the president’s health law were as strained as cynical as they appeared to be.
“Getting people health insurance is a good thing, and that’s what Tom Stemberg fought for”.
In the Republican primary, he also went to great lengths to fend off efforts to link his health reform effort with ObamaCare. Aren’t you guys sad that he’s not a candidate, so that we could spend the next two weeks obsessing over this “gaffe” as a possible gamechanger in the campaign?
These days, Romney, who briefly considered another presidential run earlier this year, is more inclined to be clear about his opinion. Exit question: Now that Romney’s come clean, can we get Rubio to admit that the Gang of Eight bill really was amnesty?
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“(Obamacare) drove up premiums, took insurance away from people who were promised otherwise, and usurped state programs. The former one-term governor initially said he believed his state-based plan could serve as a model for the nation.
