Obamney revisted? Er...no

I was about to begin my radio program Sunday when I noticed some of my libertarian friends on Facebook and Twitter were having a veritable aneurism. Apparently, GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney appeared on NBC's Meet the Depressed Press Sunday morning and allegedly conveyed there were some parts of Obamacare he liked. As such, the Ron Paul crowd began behaving like poo flinging monkeys barking out several rounds of "WE TOLD YOU SO, WE TOLD YOU SO!!! ROMNEY = OBAMA!!!".....or something.

One minor flaw in that logic. Romney actually did not say there were a number of things he likes about Obamacare.



What Romney said was there was "a number of things I like in healthcare reform." He essentially was making a broad statement about wanting to reform the healthcare system, which doesn't entail retaining Obamacare or any aspect of  it.

National Review Online writer Katrina Trinko received clarification on Romney's remarks from a campaign aide:

In reference to how Romney would deal with those with young adults who want to remain on their parents’ plans, a Romney aide responded that there had been no change in Romney’s position and that “in a competitive environment, the marketplace will make available plans that include coverage for what there is demand for. He was not proposing a federal mandate to require insurance plans to offer those particular features.”

UPDATE: In reference to pre-existing conditions, a Romney aide responds, “Governor Romney will ensure that discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions who maintain continuous coverage is prohibited,” and refers me to these remarks Romney made in Florida in June:


"I also want to make sure that people can’t get dropped if they have a preexisting condition. … So let’s say someone has been continuously insured and they develop a serious condition and let’s say they lose their job or they change jobs, they move and they go to a new place. I don’t want them to be denied insurance because they’ve got some preexisting condition. So we’re going to have to make sure that the law we replace Obamacare with assures that people who have a preexisting condition, who’ve been insured in the past are able to get insurance in the future so they don’t have to worry about that condition keeping them from getting the kind of health care they deserve."

Again, one can make a fair argument over what role government should have in the healthcare industry, if any at all. But to say that Romney likes a lot of things about the Affordable Care Act and thus will keep many of those provisions in place? That's absolutely not how I interpreted his comments on MTP. However, this isn't the first time Romney has made comments that have left people trying ascertain context. That is an issue which will definitely have to be shored up over the next eight weeks.

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