Romney needs to talk healthcare
Story and photo By
John Temple Ligon
Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Bobby and Barbara Williams of Lizard's Thicket leave the restaurant's Elmwood location with former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.

Smooth Mitt Romney came out from the Elmwood Avenue Lizard Tuesday morning, Jan 30, around nine o'clock looking for questions. He had just spent 15 minutes working the regular people inside, and outside he wanted to work the press. He's good at it, awfully good.

Romney's momentum comes from putting together a healthcare plan for Massachusetts that really could cover every member of the Commonwealth, every swinging one who is currently uninsured. He was the first governor to do it, and now even California's Schwarzenegger is on board with his own version of the Romney plan. Both Schwarzenegger and Romney, however, take some editorial heat from The Wall Street Journal for their "individual mandates" that require citizens to buy health insurance under the threat of penalties such as fat fines or garnishment of wages.

In Massachusetts all adults must obtain coverage by July 1 or get hit with a fine, or they must score a waiver through proof the insurance is impossibly priced - can't afford it, period. "Community rating" might get blamed for the unaffordable rates.

Gov. Mitt Romney

According to eHealthinsurance.com and The Wall Street Journal , a single 35- year- old man in Los Angeles can buy adequate coverage for about $70 a month, but with "community rating," that guy's rates can run $400 a month. Under community rating, insurance premiums cannot vary based on age or health status, so everyone, every healthy and happy young person, has to carry the costs of the high- risk profiles.

In California, it's sure to cost, big time. Covering California's 6.5 million uninsured appears to be $12 billion more a year for the state's budget.

In Massachusetts last week, Romney's health insurance plan was going through the ringer under the direction of Romney's successor, Gov. Deval Patrick. Overseeing the state's health insurance law, a state board called the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector decided health insurance coverage that would cost the average Massachusetts individual $380 a month was untenable. The board had expected premiums of around $260. Romney expected even less.

New bids are due in two weeks or so, and the board should vote on the insurance plans by the second week of March.

Romney needs to tout his insurance plan accomplishments before the March vote, before Massachusetts settles on a monthly payment for everyone in the Commonwealth that rises well above what Romney cited when he skillfully steered the legislation through the state house.

In South Carolina, health insurance is out of reach of a greater percentage of the population than in Massachusetts. Over twice the percentage in South Carolina is uninsured. Up to 20% does without.

Recently re- elected Gov. Sanford ran on a healthcare platform of merged state healthcare agencies, a restructuring that should save the state millions. Another idea he promoted on the campaign trail was personal healthcare accounts where Medicaid recipients could take more ownership of their healthcare dollars, pulling competition into play.

Gov. Sanford's Democrat challenger, Sen. Tommy Moore, put healthcare into a more prominent political position, but the debates never really saw much action on healthcare. South Carolina, then, has the opportunity to hear from Mitt Romney, the country's most innovative and accomplished governor in healthcare, who stuck his neck out in Massachusetts to help the uninsured. But to hear what the governor has to say about healthcare, the governor has to be asked. At the Elmwood Lizard, he was not.