Last week, Mitt Romney gave a speech in Orlando, where he outlined his plan to replace Obamacare, whether or not the law is overturned by the Supreme Court. The Romney plan would dramatically improve the private insurance market, by ending the tax-code discrimination against those who buy insurance for themselves, rather than through their employers. Romney also described how his Medicaid reforms would help the uninsured, and those with pre-existing conditions.
In March, in the wake of Obamacare’s two-year anniversary, Mitt Romney described his vision for market-oriented health reform. “Everyone can agree that health care is broken,” he said in a speech in Metairie, Louisiana. “So the last thing we should do is allow Obamacare to freeze the current system in place. Instead, we need to encourage innovation at every level. States should have the flexibility to pursue new policy approaches. Insurers and providers should have the opportunity to compete in a genuine market. Most importantly, patients should have the information and control they need to make choices about what they actually want.”
In Orlando, Romney reiterated his desire to level the playing field between those who buy insurance for themselves, and those who get it through their employers: something that I have long discussed as a linchpin of market-oriented health reform. “If you’re an individual that’s not employed, you don’t get a tax deduction for buying your own insurance,” said Romney. What I would do is level the playing field and say, ‘Insurers can buy insurance on the same tax-advantaged basis that businesses can.’”
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