Politics

I'll Bet 10 Grand You Can't Pin Down Mitt Romney on Whether His Health Care Plan Is a Model for the Nation*

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Tough choices in political punditry: Choosing whether to take sides with Mitt Romney or Rick Perry in a bet about what Romney has said about health policy. Perry's hopelessly out of his depth when it comes to policy details, and Romney's been on just about every side of every major political issue, health care in particular. Can't they both be wrong? 

At Saturday's GOP primary debate in Iowa, Perry accused Romney of stating in an early edition of his 2010 book, No Apology, that the health insurance mandate Romney signed into law in Massachusetts was a model for the nation—and then erasing the line from a later edition. In response, Romney bet his rival ten grand that he didn't write what Perry accused him of. 

Romney did cut a line about the mandate from his book, but, as is frequently the case in these debates, Perry seems to be confused about the particulars. Yet Perry's charge is not entirely without merit: Romney's book doesn't quite live up to Perry's accusation, but Romney has said essentially what Perry accused him of saying in other instances. 

Let's start with the exchange from Saturday's debate:

RICK PERRY: I'm– I'm– (THROAT CLEARING) I'm listenin' to you, Mitt, and I'm hearin' you say all the right things. But I read your first book and it said in there that your mandate in Massachusetts which should be the model for the country. And I know it came out of– of the– the reprint of the book. But, you know, I'm just sayin', you were for individual mandates, my friend.
MITT ROMNEY: You know what? You've raised that before, Rick. And– you're simply wrong.
RICK PERRY: It– it– it was true then. (CHUCKLE) It's true now.
MITT ROMNEY: That– now, this– Rick, I'll– I'll tell you what. (CHUCKLE) 10,000 bucks– (APPLAUSE) $10,000 bet?
RICK PERRY: I'm not in the bettin' business, but, okay.
MITT ROMNEY: Oh, I– I'll–
RICK PERRY: I'll show you the– I'll– I'll– I'll show you the book.
MITT ROMNEY: I wrote– I've got the book. And–
RICK PERRY: And we'll show– (LAUGH)
MITT ROMNEY: And I– and I– and I wrote the book. And I haven't– and chapter seven is a section called The Massachusetts Model. And I say as close as I can quote, I say, "In my view, each state should be able to– to fashion their own program for the specific needs of their distinct citizens." And then I go on to talk about the states being the laboratories of democracy. And we could learn from one another. I have not said, in that book, first edition or the latest edition, anything about our plan being a national mo– model imposed on the nation.
The right course for America, and I said this durin' the debates the last time around, I'll say it now and time again, is to let individual states– this is a remarkable nation. This idea of federalism is so extraordinary. Let states craft their own solutions. Don't have ObamaCare put on us by the federal government. 

In this particular instance, Romney is correct: He did cut a line from his book regarding the national implications for his plan. But it didn't say that the Massachusetts mandate should be a model for the country. In the hardcover version, Romney touted some of the virtues of his Massachusetts health care plan, then said: "We can accomplish the same thing for everyone in the country, and it can be done without letting government take over health care." In the paperback version, he changed the line to read, "And it can be done without letting government take over health care."

That alteration is revealing in a lot of ways: It suggests Romney's unwillingness to stand behind his words, and it highlights his anxiety about his repeated suggestions that his Massachusetts health care plan could provide some basis for a national health policy overhaul. But Romney never actually says, as Perry accused, that the "mandate in Massachusetts…should be the model for the country."

But you can see where Perry's notion comes from. In years past, Romney has explicitly confirmed that he believes his plan should be a "model for the nation," and predicted that the country would end up with some sort of mandate-driven approach. Watch below:

Now, the most charitable interpretation is that Romney merely thinks that his plan for states is to be adopted at the state level. He's indicated as much on a number of occasions, saying that there's a lot states can learn from the plan he passed in Massachusetts. But even there he's changed his mind, saying in 2007 that it could provide a model for most states, but reversing himself last week, telling The Washington Examiner that he wouldn't recommend RomneyCare, in its entirety, for any state at all. So Mitt Romney's position on RomneyCare appears to be that it's a model for the nation, but neither the federal government nor any state should adopt it themselves. 

*Note: I'm not actually betting $10,000.