Romney Visits Florida

Mitt Romney is on the campaign trail...Heavily trying to get the votes of Floridians.

Jacksonville, Florida

Mitt Romney's top rivals reminded voters that Massachusetts residents had until yesterday to sign up for health insurance or face possible tax penalties - and criticized the mandate as unwarranted government intrusion.

more stories like thisRudy Giuliani, campaigning in Florida yesterday, pointed out that Romney, who signed the landmark Massachusetts healthcare law while he was governor, has dropped the enrollment requirement from the healthcare plan he is pitching as a presidential candidate. Instead, he would leave such proposals up to each state.

"Governor Romney does not want to do for America what he did for Massachusetts," Giuliani said. "He has abandoned the idea of doing mandates for the entire country, and why did he abandon it for the whole country? Because it's not a good idea."

An aide to Fred Thompson e-mailed audio of a public service announcement reminding Massachusetts residents of the deadline and sought campaign contributions for Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee.

Romney's camp yesterday responded to the criticism: "There are those that just talk about healthcare reform, and then there's governor Mitt Romney, who actually has a record of accomplishment on healthcare reform."

"Governor Romney's vision and record of accomplishment on healthcare reform includes utilizing the free market and innovation to get more people covered with private insurance while making care more affordable by reducing the number of free-riders and government regulations that are responsible for holding back the market and driving up costs," the statement said.

Massachusetts' healthcare overhaul has been a delicate dance for Romney. It is a major part of his record of accomplishments as governor that he is highlighting. But he has been disavowing more controversial parts of the healthcare plan, and has bashed Democrat Hillary Clinton's plan, though it shares key elements with the one in Massachusetts.

Under the measure, Massachusetts residents had to sign up for health insurance by yesterday or they are likely to face tax penalties starting Jan. 1. It is the stick that follows the carrot of previous deadlines requiring the state to expand subsidized coverage, or requiring private insurers to offer less expensive policies to the uninsured.

The law aims to reduce the ranks of uninsured in Massachusetts, a group once estimated at up to 500,000. As of July 1, all state residents had to be insured either through government programs or private insurance provided by their employers, subsidized by the state, or driven down in cost through state collaboration with private insurers.

Bay State residents do not face penalties though, unless they continue to be uninsured after Dec. 31. Yesterday was the last day many insurers would take on new customers and cover them as of Dec. 31.

Those lacking coverage on Dec. 31 will lose the personal exemption on their state income tax filing next spring, equal to $219. If they remain uninsured into 2008, they will be taxed up to 50 percent of the cost of the least-expensive private insurance plan - an estimated hit of at least $150 a month.

The mandate is a critical element of the new law, because it aims to stop uninsured "free-riders" from walking into an emergency room and sticking the insured with the bill through higher premiums. Romney likened the provision to the state's auto-insurance requirement, and pitched it as a matter of personal responsibility when he signed the health bill into law in April 2006.

The law appears to be working. As of Nov. 1, the date for the most recent statistics, more than 200,000 formerly uninsured people had gotten insurance, roughly half of the state's target.

Nonetheless, Romney has distanced himself from the mandate.

"I think mine is the ultimate conservative approach," he said in an interview with the Associated Press this week. "The good news is we've proved that we can get everybody insured without the government handing out government insurance, and without spreading Medicaid to everybody, and without a government takeover of healthcare. . . . I'm the only guy who's got a free-market way to get everybody insured."