December 17, 2009 7:57AM 

# Health Reform: Blame Mitt 

By [Michael D. Tanner](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-d-tanner) 

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If — and it is still a big “if — Democrats pass a health bill, that bill will owe as much to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. In fact, with the so-called “public option” out of the Senate health bill, the final product increasingly looks like the [failed Massachusetts experiment](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6407). Consider that the final bill will likely include:

- An individual mandate
- A weak employer-mandate
- An Exchange (Connector)
- Middle-class subsidies
- Insurance regulation (already in place in Massachusetts before Romney’s reforms)

As to why this will be a disaster for American taxpayers, workers, and patients, I’ve written about it [here,](https://www.cato.org/pubs/bp/bp112.pdf) and my colleague Michael Cannon has covered it [here](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10488) and [here](http://https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10381).

Gee, thanks, Mitt.

##### Related Tags 

[Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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