Mitt Romney said Friday that the disastrous rollout of President Obama’s health care law — and the broken promise that if people liked their plan, they could keep it under the law — put the rest of Mr. Obama’s second term in jeopardy.
“I think a lot of people recognize the flaws in the Obamacare product — not just its implementation, but the more fundamental flaw, which was the president promised people could keep their plans,” the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee said on “CBS This Morning.” “That promise was not accurate, it was not honest, and the whole foundation of his second term, I think, is in jeopardy as a result of that.”
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The real problem isn’t the initial rollout, which will eventually work itself out, Mr. Romney said.
“The real problem the president has is a broken promise — it’s dishonesty,” he said. “And that’s, of course, what’s really striking at the heart of his term.”
“It’s just dishonest,” he added. “What starts twisted stays twisted, and it’s not going to be able to be fixed until we fundamentally reshape Obamacare, either repeal it or reshape it or reform it.”
Mr. Romney said one difference between a plan enacted in Massachusetts when he was governor that ultimately extended near-universal health care to the state’s residents and the president’s plan was that the Massachusetts implementation was slow “on purpose,” so officials could iron out problems.
The House is poised to pass a bill Friday that would allow new enrollees to gain plans that do not comply with the federal law — a push Democrats are likening to a “Trojan horse” that would undermine the law’s entire structure.
Mr. Obama offered an administrative remedy on Thursday that permits insurers to offer a one-year renewal to people who hold noncompliant plans, and Senate Democrats are pushing legislation that would let existing enrollees hold onto their plans indefinitely.
