Hello, everyone. I'm here to present the puzzling case of Governor Romney.
As a psychiatrist practicing in Massachusetts, I have to say that I’m also confused as to what Governor Romney’s current health care policies are. And we knew the guy for a time, or at least we thought we did. It’s clear what his current healthcare policies aren’t, as he has said that he would “Kill Obamacare on Day One.” But, given my familiarity with the system he helped initiate in Massachusetts, I can tell you that this is a peculiar stance for him.
Obamacare is Commonwealth Care. No other way around it. Simple fact. Commonwealth Care came from the same conservative think tanks as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“the PPACA” or “Obamacare”). Obamacare has the same method as Commonwealth Care to ensure medical coverage by: 1) expanding Medicaid/MassHealth to those near the poverty line; 2) providing an exchange of private insurance plans for those without employer-based coverage; and 3) establishing subsidies for lower- and middle-income families to help purchase plans from the exchange. Despite these similarities, it is as if the Governor is saying, “Once I become President Romney, Obamacare is finished, despite the fact that it follows the successful plan I implemented for Massachusetts.” People rarely see their solid achievements as life-altering mistakes, but I take the Governor at his word.
Yet, we still come back to the central puzzle in this case ... Governor Romney cannot articulate what his new plan for health care coverage is. That means that millions of Americans will once again be without coverage, including many of the young adults I see in my practice. Romney’s repeal of Obamacare would once again allow insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, preventing many patients from buying their own insurance plans. It would reopen the prescription drug donut hole for seniors, at the same time as Romney/Ryan plan to downscale Medicare.
What we in Massachusetts got from Commonwealth Care was basically a “preview” of Obamacare; the PPACA also comes with patient protections like waiving co-insurance for perinatal care, waiving co-pays for preventative care, and ensuring coverage of certain preventative procedures/medications. No Massachusetts docs have been put out of business. If anything, the law has been a boon for my insurance-based private practice, allowing me to focus on psychiatry and “doing well by doing good.”
I love practicing in Massachusetts. My patients have benefitted greatly from Commonwealth Care and Obamacare. As a father and husband in a family of three people with known diagnoses, I’m grateful that my family and I will never be excluded from purchasing coverage. I want all of you out there in the "other 49" to know that you have nothing to fear from Obamacare, and everything to gain, particularly once the exchanges begin in 2014. President Romney’s current plan? Well, no one knows exactly what that would be, but the prognosis doesn’t seem to be a good one.