August 5, 2009 10:32AM 

# On Health Reform, Massachusetts Is the Model 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

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Last week, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) penned a wonderfully misleading [oped](http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/07/mr-president-whats-the-rush.html) for *USA Today.* In response, I submitted this poor, unsuccessful letter to the editor:

> If Massachusetts were covering the uninsured for less than $800 a pop, as former Gov. Mitt Romney suggests \[“[Mr. President, What’s the Rush?](http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/07/mr-president-whats-the-rush.html)”, July 30\], then the health reforms he signed in 2006 would truly be a model for the nation. Yet data from the very watchdog organization Romney cites ([the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation](http://www.masstaxpayers.org/files/Health%20care-NT.pdf)) indicate something different.
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> The [Massachusetts reforms](http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWU1MGZkNmM5OWNhYzI0MzhjZGM5ZTZjMWM2ZjZlY2M=) cost more than five times what Romney claims, because the state pushed more than 80 percent of the cost off-budget, and onto private individuals and the federal government. In fact, “[RomneyCare](http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWU1MGZkNmM5OWNhYzI0MzhjZGM5ZTZjMWM2ZjZlY2M=)” covers a family of four at a cost of at least $27,000 – more than twice the average cost of employer-sponsored coverage ([$12,680](http://ehbs.kff.org/pdf/7790.pdf)).
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> Romney is correct that President Barack Obama has the wrong prescription for health reform. But that’s because [Obama’s approach](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10218) is Romney’s approach. Like Romney, Obama would have government force people to purchase health insurance; control the content, terms, and price of “private” health insurance policies; expand Medicaid; and create new government subsidies and bureaucracies. Like Romney, Obama would push most of the cost off-budget by imposing mandates on states and private individuals – which constitutes a huge tax increase on the middle class.
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> ObamaCare, like RomneyCare, is [socialized medicine](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9679) with a private façade.

##### Related Tags 

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

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