In August 2007, Mitt Romney said taking Romneycare nationwide would cover the uninsured
Although Mitt Romney signed the individual mandate into law in Massachusetts and supports it to this very day, he says he is fundamentally and unalterably opposed to imposing the mandate on the federal level because he believes it is unconstitutional.
But before 2010, Mitt Romney repeatedly endorsed taking it nationwide:
- August, 2007: Speaking at a Republican debate about his plan to cover all "45 million people without insurance," Romney said his plan was to adopt Romneycare. "What you have to do is what we did in Massachusetts," he said. Why? "No more free rides. It works." (No more free rides is his way of describing the individual mandate.)
- January, 2008: Mitt Romney defended the individual mandate in a Republican debate. Romney said, "I like mandates, the mandates work." Although he said he did not support literally compelling every state to impose a mandate, he said he supported tying federal aid to states with adoption of the mandate. "What I would say at the federal level is, 'We'll keep giving you these special payments we make if you adopt plans that get everybody insured.' I want to get everybody insured." That's a carrot-based approach instead of a stick-based approach, but it's still an attempt to take the individual mandate national.
- July, 2009: Mitt Romney wrote an op-ed in USA Today urging President Obama to base his health care reform proposal on Romneycare—including its mandate. Romney wrote that reform was crucial "for the sake of 47 million uninsured Americans." A bipartisan consensus was needed, he said, and "the lessons we learned in Massachusetts could help Washington find it." Chief among those lessons: using the tax code to penalize "free riders," effectively compelling people to buy insurance. That's the individual mandate. Romney pushed his proposal on three other occasions in 2009.
Bottom line: Congratulations, Republicans. You're about to nominate the father of Obamacare.