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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) unveiled a healthcare plan Friday that would rely on the private sector to provide insurance to the tens of millions of Americans who currently do not have it. Romney, who presented his strategy in front of the Florida Medical Association, wants to deregulate the state’s health insurance markets with the goal of lowering insurance costs. The GOP presidential hopeful also proposes to create incentives for Health Savings Accounts and push for medical liability reform. Romney calls the plan “a comprehensive solution to America’s healthcare ills” and claims his plan provides states with greater flexibility and would “expand access to affordable, quality health insurance.” Romney’s Democratic rivals wasted little time in attacking the plan. Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) blasted the plan, saying, “Mitt Romney’s cure is worse than the disease.” Edwards accused the Romney plan of helping those with high incomes and those who are healthy the most, “at the expense of millions of uninsured Americans who need help the most.” The plan was also attacked by the campaign of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) . “Mitt Romney’s legacy is the creation of a multi-billion dollar government health bureaucracy that punishes employers and insists middle income individuals either purchase health insurance or pay for their own health care,” said Scott Atlas, a Giuliani healthcare adviser. “The former is a mandate, the latter is a tax, and neither one is free-market.” |
