UPDATE 6:10pm
The invitation-only crowd at Mitt Romney’s health care speech in Ann Arbor Thursday generally liked what they heard. The Republican presidential contender wants to repeal the federal health care law.
Romney painstakingly tried to draw a sharp contrast between the plan he put in place as governor of Massachusetts and the similar plan that President Obama helped create on the national level.
Medical student Johannes Pulst-Korenberg thought Romney made some interesting points, but failed to make his case against the federal health care law.
“I wasn’t really convinced with how he characterized ‘Obama-care’ as a government takeover of Medicare….I don’t think it’s a government takeover of health care.”
But others in the audience liked what they heard. Romney’s call for repealing the federal health care law replacing it with state-plans made sense to them. Stan Watson is a member of the Washtenaw County Republican Party.
“I think it’s something that he had to stand up and address. Because, as he said, it became a liability. I think he’s bringing it back to an asset talking about health care.”
Romney’s critics say he should apologize for creating a health care system in Massachusetts that became a template for the national health care law.
Romney told the audience in Ann Arbor on Thursday, he will not apologize for a state system he says is working.
ORIGINAL POST: Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney says the Obama administration distrusts the free enterprise system, and the nation’s new health care law is an example of that distrust.
Romney spoke to an invitation-only audience at the University of Michigan this afternoon.
The former Massachusetts governor outlined his plan to repeal the health care law, and replace it with incentives for states to come up with their own solutions to the problem of people who are uninsured.
"Our plan was a state solution to a state problem," Romney said. "And his is a power grab by the federal government to put in place a 'one-size-fits-all' plan across the nation."
Romney said the Obama administration's health care plan is flawed.
"They fundamentally distrust free enterprise and distrust the idea that states are where the power of government resides," said Romney.
Romney said he will not apologize for the health care plan he put in place in Massachusetts, even though it might help him politically.
Romney’s biggest obstacle to winning the Republican presidential nomination is probably the health care issue.
He championed a health care plan in Massachusetts that served as a basis for the federal health care law.
The Wall Street Journal editorialized today that unless Romney can explain why his plans for health care reform are different from the president's, then he might make a better running mate for Obama in 2012 than the GOP presidential nominee.
