Saturday, November 13, 2010

Mitt, Me, and the Massachusetts Health Care Mandate

“I owed the government $3,000,000. After I called 1-800-DEADBEAT, I only had to pay, $500,000!”

Has anyone noticed the TV commercials that feature all these people with financial problems? How about this ad: A woman is sitting in a lavish parlor that could pass for a room in the west wing of the White House… “I owed the government $500,000, but after calling 1-800-DEADBEAT, I only had to pay $30,000!”

Is it just me? Watching these testimonials I find myself asking, “Why the heck did you accumulate so much debt to begin with? How do you think the government is going to make up the difference?” Well, the responsible tax payers will pick up the difference by paying the tab, that‘s who.

And then, there was the Real Estate crash. All these people bought houses they couldn’t afford, took out mortgages, and didn’t bother to read the fine print. “It’s the banks fault! They should have realized I was an ignoramus and instead, gave me the mortgage and made me the victim that you see.”  I’m not dissing those who lost jobs or became ill and were not able to keep up their payments. Those individuals shouldn’t be lumped into the group of ignoramuses. So what did the government do? They rushed to their rescue. So, those of us that purchased homes we could afford, that took out mortgages and bothered to read the fine print, that bought the smaller house because we knew we couldn’t afford the larger one, are paying the tab.

Bad judgment and lack of personal responsibility are the main factors in the previous scenarios. Those faults make victims of not only those that were involved, but also those who were not involved – through higher taxes.

Too bad there isn’t a mandate for good judgment.

This brings me to my views on Mitt Romney and the Health Care mandate in Massachusetts. I think the sentiment is the same. It is estimated that nationally somewhere between 10,000,000 to 18,000,000 people refuse to purchase medical insurance simply because they don’t want to. My guess is that most of these are the younger crowd who feel they are healthy and don’t need it. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY DO?

If someone can afford health insurance and refuses to purchase a policy and is voluntarily UNinsured, HOW and WHOM do you believe should pay for their  emergency medical treatment? As a Massachusetts TAX PAYER and business owner, I supported the mandate in MA that requires everyone to have health Insurance. I don’t want to be indirectly charged for medical services for individuals who decided not to purchase a policy and play Russian Roulette with their health. Without this mandate, how else do we keep these people from using emergency rooms and STIFFING the tax payer each time they need medical attention?

Some will say that if you’re PRO-mandate, you are somehow less conservative. I don’t buy that argument. I think it’s a CONSERVATIVE VALUE that each and every one of us should be responsible for any actions or inaction that affects others. If you refuse to purchase health insurance and need medical attention and don’t pay for those services, you force me to pay for you – through higher hospital costs, higher taxes, and eventually higher premiums for all.

Now there’s more to the Massachusetts Health Care system than just the mandate. I could go on and on about the facts that Governor Romney got almost everyone in the state insured and gave the state and his constituents what they asked for and needed. How he accomplished all this without raising taxes. I could talk about some of the other reasons I support Mitt Romney for President, but I won’t. All that will be discussed at a later time by myself and others on MRC, RIGHT SPEAK, and ROS.

In closing, I’d like to clarify one thing; I support the MA Health Care mandate. As a Massachusetts’ citizen, I do not support Obamacare and a national mandate to force people to buy health Insurance. Who am I to force my will for Massachusetts on to other states? Like Mitt Romney, I firmly believe in state’s rights and the rights of individual states to determine their own health care needs and to the right to determine what makes sense for them – if and when they determine that it is necessary.

cross posted from MRC

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post Bos.

I agree with why you would want the mandate in Massachusetts. Why she deadbeats get a free ride on those of us who voluntarily purchase insurance.

zeke

Anonymous said...

I can understand your reasoning. I to would have voted for the mandated program.

The problem is, that The Republicans won't be able to go after Obama on Obamacare.

It's as if, Romney is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Revolution 2012 said...

Congratulations BOS. I just found out you're a Front Pager now at Mitt Romney Central as well.

You make an excellent argument for Mitt Romney and his MA only mandate.

I agree that MA had the right to insure that freeloaders pay their own way as far as medical treatments.

I think more of this rationale needs to get out there in the public.

If states want to follow what MA did, great!
If they don't, great!
If they want to try something different, great.

Maybe if all the states had tried to solve this at a state level, Obamacare would never have happened.

Illinoisguy said...

I've been making this argument for years now. To me to believe it's ok for freeloaders to receive free care, and have others pay there bills is commonly called SOCIALISM. But, for some reason, because Mitt Romney lead the way, people have to find fault with it, but their arguments are extremely weak and wreak of SOCIALISM.

Right Wingnut said...

Bos, First of all, I commend you on your exceptional writing abilitiy and creativity.

The problem I see with your justification of the mandate, is that Obama and the rest of the Dems have used and will continue to use the same arguments. Obama agrees with you. These arguments will be thrown right back in Mitt's face should he be the nominee. The states rights argument is not enough. It's still a big government solution to a problem. That's how most voters will see it. Unfortuanately for Mitt, Taxachusetts won't have much of a say in who our next president is.

kelly said...

Kelly,

Thank you for sharing your first hand perspective on Romneycare.

It helps me as a Romney supporter defend romney against those who would use this phony issue to try and bring him down.

I'm not a fan of mandates, but him MA wants one, that's their business.

Illinoisguy said...

The state's rights argument is not all we have. We also have the argument that we don't believe in Socialized medicine, which is what they had before Masscare was passed, and what most other states still have. It is still socialized medicine to some degree because the subsidize those that can't pay for themselves. But, it is a step in the right direction.

Right Wingnut said...

I-Guy,

We also have the argument that we don't believe in Socialized medicine, which is what they had before Masscare was passed, and what most other states still have. It is still socialized medicine to some degree because the subsidize those that can't pay for themselves. But, it is a step in the right direction.-Illinoisguy

Right or wrong, that argument will be tough to sell.

I'm beginning to agree with Rick Perry. He may be better off admitting it was a bad idea. That way he can criticize Obama for not learning from his mistakes.

Anonymous said...

Mitt Romney fought hard to bring a market based Health Care system to Deep Blue Mass. The electorate is very happy with their health care.

"More than 97 percent of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, much better than the national rate of about 85 percent. And the system is popular -- a poll last year found that residents of the state support it by a 2-to-1 margin"

Mitt Romney is the perfect one to criticize Obama Care on several front. Obama Care raised taxes, Mass Care did not. Obama Care was partisan, Mass care was a bi partisan effort. Mass care is a state solution, Obama Care takes states rights away.

Mitt is the perfect candidate to take on Obama Care.

Romney has demonstrated throughout his career that he is solutions oriented. This is exactly the type to leadership we need in Wash.

Anonymous said...

Romney said “The People of Massachusetts, and their liberal house, desperately wanted healthcare for all. I did everything in my power to work with our liberal house, to give them what they wanted, while minimizing the effects on the free market and the tax payer”.

Mass care was NOT a template for Obama Care. They are saying they will have to institute a VAT TAX to cover Obama Care. Mass Care never had to raise taxes.

BOSMAN said...

RWN,

".....Right or wrong, that argument will be tough to sell....."

========

That's why when Romney wins the nomination, we'll have so many more supporters LIKE YOU, to straighten everybody out that brings MA Health Care up!

Anonymous said...

WOW Bos, well done.
Hard to argue with that reasoning.

zeke