Mitt Romney FLIP Watch: Hillary Health Care 2.0 Similar to Romney’s Health Care Plan

A combination image shows (L) Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and (R) Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Hillary Clinton. Experts say Clinton’s health plan borrows heavily from one Romney signed into law when he was governor of Massachusetts, which made the liberal state the first in the United States with near-universal health insurance.

Romney, Clinton health care plans similar: experts

When it comes to health care, Republican Mitt Romney loves to take swipes at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

He calls Clinton’s plan, which would require every American to have health insurance, “European-style socialized medicine” and derides it as inspired by “European bureaucracies.”

Romney is quick to remind supporters of the U.S. senator from New York’s dramatic 1993 failure to reform U.S. health care, which many Americans felt overstepped the role of first lady.

Despite all that, experts say Clinton’s plan borrows heavily from one Romney signed into law when he was governor of Massachusetts, which made the liberal state the first in the United States with near-universal health insurance.

That similarity could be fodder for Romney’s rivals vying to be the 2008 Republican presidential nominee.

“Hillary’s plan is just like the Massachusetts plan. There’s not a whole lot of difference,” said Jonathan Gruber, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor who was an adviser to Romney on the state’s health care reform law.

Like Clinton’s plan, the law Romney signed in April 2006 is underpinned by an “individual mandate” compelling people to buy health insurance. Both plans entail subsidies and government regulations. For those in Massachusetts earning less than the federal poverty level of $9,800, free coverage is provided.

But, Hillary’s Health Care Plan 2.0 is similar to Romney’s Health Care Plan 1.0.

Here is a Hillary Clinton ad that invokes 9/11 for her universal health care plan or Hillary 2.0:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja6vu6cWWTQ[/youtube]

Flap has criticized the then Massachusetts Governor Romney for his â€œuniversalâ€ and â€œsocializedâ€ plan. You know the one Hillary Clinton has praised and supported by Teddy Kennedy.

But, Mitt has FLIPPED from this plan and Flap noted his NEW position here.

The problem with comparing Romney’s positions is that he changes them every week or whenever it is expedient to him politically. In THIS, Mitt and Hillary are very similar.

By the way, here is conservative health care expert Sally Pipes on Romney 1.0:

Conservatives mostly understand the problems associated with the direct government provision of products and services â€” poor quality, shortages, high taxes, and shoddy service. What they must also understand is that forcing an individual to purchase health insurance is merely a rest stop on the journey to the same destination.

The best way to make health insurance available to the greatest number of people is to make sure that it can be provided at the lowest possible prices. Instead of abolishing the government regulations that have raised the cost of health insurance in Massachusetts, Governor Romney has proposed that the government should pay for the health insurance of the very people for whom the government made health insurance unaffordable.

Here is Mitt as of May on his 1.0 and 2.0 plans:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=YCPYOAOTBH0[/youtube]

Flap is NOW confused because of the changing Romney positions.

Though it was his crowning achievement as governor, Romney has distanced himself from aspects of the law that offend his party’s conservative base, including the extent of the government’s role. He has proposed a plan that includes federal tax breaks and incentives to states to help the 47 million uninsured Americans afford coverage.

“What works in Massachusetts may not work in Texas,” Romney said at a campaign stop in Salt Lake City, Utah.

And he wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal, “As governor of Massachusetts, I led the fight for reforms that used free markets and innovation, rather than big-government control, to lower health care costs and cover the uninsured.”

Flap thinks Mitt Romney is confused as well.

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