On Health Care, Romney Goes Retro
by Jonathan Cohn
May 23, 2012
The gist: Repeal the Affordable Care Act; end Medicare and Medicaid as we know it, by turning the former into a voucher program and the latter into a block grant scheme; unravel private insurance, by changing the tax treatment of benefits and undermining state regulation.
The good: Not much. Once in a while he talks up worthwhile reforms designed to improve the quality of care. He also endorses malpractice reform, which is a worthy idea, although his approach would do in a way that reduced damage awards without improving compensation for actual medical errors.
The bad: Changing the tax treatment of health insurance makes sense if you do it alongside other reforms. But if you do it without those reforms, it undermines employer-sponsored coverage without providing adequate alternatives.
The ugly: Tens of millions of people would likely end up without health insurance, relative to what will happen if current law stays in place; in fact, the number could reach 58 million, according to one credible estimate drawn from the (admittedly vague) things he's said so far.
They said it: “Never before in history has a candidate run for President with the idea that too many people have insurance coverage.” – David Cutler, economist at Harvard and 2008 campaign adviser to President Obama...
For the full article, go to:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/103630/romney-repeal-obamacare-medicare-medicaid-regulation-employer-tax-retro
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