When Mitt Romney Praised "Obamacare" And Individual Mandate

by: Publisher

Mon Feb 13, 2012 at 18:00:00 PM EST

Editor-in-Chief Asher Smith: Earlier today, President Obama remarked to NBC on the degree of similarity between his health-care reform policies and those that you passed in Massachusetts under your term as governor. How is the health-care reform legislation signed by Obama last week significantly different from the policies that you passed in Massachusetts?

Gov. Mitt Romney: Well, there are similarities. And some of the best features of his health-care plan are like ours - such as, we do not allow insurance companies to drop people who develop illnesses, our insurance is entirely portable, virtually all of our citizens are insured and there is an individual responsibility for getting insurance.

The big differences are that he raised taxes; we did not. He cut Medicare; we did not. He put in place price controls; we did not. And his is a federal program — a one-size-fits-all solution — and in our view — in my view, the best approach is a state-by-state creation of programs designed to fit the needs of citizens of each state.

Smith: Do you have any regrets now about signing Massachusetts' version of health-care reform into law?

Romney: I am proud of what we accomplished. It was a step forward. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than what we had before.