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Saturday, July 7, 2012

Brooks, Dionne on Jobs Report, Romney's Health Care Message

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne discuss the week's top political news, including the dismal June jobs report, why the stimulus recovery plan hasn't had a greater effect, and Mitt Romney's health care message and evolving relationship with the conservative base.

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Friday, July 6, 2012

Romney seeks to clarify health care message

Mitt Romney says the health insurance mandate is a tax, even though he disagreesHis campaign has been criticized for inconsistency on the issuePresident Barack Obama also disagrees that the mandate is a taxRepublicans want to galvanize support around their desire to repeal Obamacare

Washington (CNN) -- As Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney imposed a penalty on people who could afford health insurance but chose to go without it. As Republican presidential candidate, Romney opposes the federal health care law that does the same thing.

Last week, Romney's top campaign adviser said the federal penalty for refusing to get health coverage was exactly that -- a fine, not a tax. This week, Romney said it is a tax because the Supreme Court opinion he opposes declared it a tax.

Confused? So is the Romney campaign, apparently.

The back-and-forth shows the tightrope Romney must walk on the health care reform issue now that he is the certain Republican presidential nominee.

Rebounding from last week's Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement, Republicans seek to galvanize conservative contempt for the measure into a wave of electoral support in November.

Some prominent supporters blast Romney for mixed messages on health care 'tax'

Specifically, Republicans have seized on the high court's 5-4 ruling that the government has the power to enforce the health insurance mandate through its taxing authority. They contend the ruling shows Obama lied to the American public when he repeatedly denied in 2009 that the individual mandate amounted to a tax increase.

However, Romney's support for the same kind of individual mandate -- the requirement that eligible people have health insurance -- during his term as governor in Massachusetts leaves him vulnerable to questions about where he really stands.

Former GOP candidate Rick Santorum focused on that vulnerability during the Republican primary campaign, constantly pointing out that Romney lacked credibility in opposing the 2010 federal law known as Obamacare because of his support for similar reforms in Massachusetts.

The Supreme Court ruling put Romney in the uncomfortable position of either having to support his past as a tax-raising move, or support Obama's contention the mandate was not a new tax after all.

In an apparent effort to avoid any tax hike implications for the Massachusetts law implemented under Romney, campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom declared last week that the candidate believed the mandate amounted to a penalty on so-called free riders -- people with the means to buy health insurance who refuse to do so, putting the burden of their health care on taxpayers.

"He agreed with the dissent written by Justice (Antonin) Scalia, which very clearly stated that the mandate was not a tax," Fehrnstrom told MSNBC.

Fehrnstrom's comment prompted immediate anger from Republicans eager to use the tax issue as a cudgel against Obama.

The Wall Street Journal, in a harsh editorial Thursday, called such campaign confusion an "unforced error" that it said "fits with Mr. Romney's fear of being labeled a flip-flopper, as if that is worse than confusing voters about the tax and health-care issues."

"Mr. Romney favored the individual mandate as part of his reform in Massachusetts, and as we've said from the beginning of his candidacy his failure to admit that mistake makes him less able to carry the anti-ObamaCare case to voters," the editorial said.

Romney sought to correct the problem Wednesday, clearly stating for the first time that the mandate is a tax.

He used the Supreme Court ruling as a shield against questions about his record, saying what he did in Massachusetts was a permissible penalty under law, but what Obama is doing can only occur as a tax, according to the high court.

"I think it was a mistake on the part of the court, but you know, they do get the last say," Romney told CBS in an interview broadcast Thursday. Questioned further, Romney offered this explanation:

"Well, I said that I agreed with the dissent and the dissent made it very clear that they felt it was unconstitutional. But the dissent lost. It's in the minority. And so now the Supreme Court has spoken. And while I agreed with the dissent, that's taken over by the fact that the majority of the court said it's a tax and, therefore, it is a tax. They have spoken. There's no way around that. You can try and say you wish they had decided a different way, but they didn't."

In particular, Romney noted that the Supreme Court ruling said states have "police power" to impose penalties and mandates, which is what he did in Massachusetts. According to the ruling, "the federal government does not have those powers, and, therefore, for the Supreme Court to reach the conclusion it did, that the law was constitutional, they had to find it was a tax and they did," Romney continued.

What the Supreme Court ruled on health care 'tax'

"Like it or not, it's a tax," he said.

The Obama campaign also has some confusion on the matter. Spokesman Ben LaBolt said Thursday that the president also disagrees with the Supreme Court that the individual mandate amounts to a tax on eligible people who don't have health insurance.

He argued on CNN that Obama has been consistent in characterizing the required payment by people without insurance as a penalty, even though the solicitor general argued before the Supreme Court that the government's taxing authority permitted the individual mandate provision.

The government argument "never referred to it as a tax," LaBolt said. "It said it was a penalty, and that's under the section of the law that is the tax code, but it said very specifically it's a penalty."

LaBolt also said Romney now "disagreed with his own campaign advisers and disagreed with himself about whether his own mandate is a tax."

The Supreme Court opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts made clear that for purposes of the ruling, the mandate amounted to a tax. It noted the mandate differed from an income tax or property tax assessed to broad groups for particular activity, and in this case was a penalty for a lack of activity.

The health care law's "requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax," the opinion said, adding that "because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness."

On Thursday, the Romney campaign insisted it is Obama who must clarify his stance, saying the president's insistence that the provision is a penalty is at odds with the Supreme Court ruling.

Romney told CBS that regardless of the questions about the mandate, Obamacare is "a lousy piece of legislation" that needs to be repealed.

The politics of parsing: 'Penalty,' 'tax' or just 'penaltax'

He has promised to launch a repeal effort on his first day in office if elected but said Thursday he supported some of the most popular provisions of the Obama law -- such as preventing denial of coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and allowing those up to age 26 to stay on family policies.

"These things are available in the marketplace and do not require Obamacare," Romney said.

Obama and Democrats, meanwhile, insist that regardless of semantics, the Supreme Court ruling settled the question of the health care law's constitutionality and now it was time to move ahead on fully implementing it instead of continuing to fight the same political battles.

"I'll work with anybody who wants to work with me to continue to improve our health care system and our health care laws, but the law I passed is here to stay," Obama said to cheers Thursday at a campaign event in Ohio.

How are you affected by the ruling and are taxes fair? Share with us on CNN iReport.

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Health care message wars heat up on anniversary of law

Tea party supporters protest against the health care bill in March 2010 outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.Second anniversary of President Obama signing health care reform into law approachesDemocrats plan to highlight key provisions of law this weekObama Cabinet officials are going on the road to tout what they say has workedRepublicans are using anniversary to argue law should be repealed

Washington (CNN) -- Two years after President Barack Obama signed health care reform legislation -- and with the U.S. Supreme Court about to consider a challenge from several states trying to overturn it -- supporters and opponents of the controversial law are gearing up for a message war like it's 2009.

At that time, Democrats, emboldened by a new president and big gains in Congress, pushed sweeping legislation to expand coverage for uninsured Americans, clashing with Republicans who branded the bill "Obamacare" and warned it would trigger an unprecedented intrusion by Washington into people's medical decisions. Raucous crowds at town halls across the country that summer, many focusing on health care, captured the intensity of the debate. When Democrats muscled the final version of the bill through the House of Representatives in a late-night vote, not one Republican voted for it.

Obama signed his top legislative achievement into law on March 23, 2010, but by then the issue was already shaping up to be a central flashpoint in that year's midterm elections. That November, Democrats were tossed out of the majority in the House after voters elected a new class of 87 Republicans who campaigned on repealing "Obamacare."

GOP candidates for the 2012 presidential nomination have made rolling back the law a central promise of their campaigns.

Democrats stress benefits, argue warnings never happened

The most controversial parts of the law -- such as requiring all Americans to enroll in a health care plan or pay a penalty and setting up a federal health care insurance exchange, where people can compare and shop for plans -- won't go into effect until 2014.

Democratic aides admit that while certain key components of health care reform are having an impact on some, many Americans are only "vaguely aware" of them, as one aide noted, so the emphasis will be on showing what's changed in two years.

Democrats will also argue that all the dire predictions GOP opponents warned about in 2009 haven't materialized. Republicans said senior citizens would lose their health care coverage and private plans would be forced to impose massive hikes in premiums.

"None of those things have happened, and in fact good things have happened -- so that is a help to us," claimed one senior Democratic aide coordinating the week's activities. "People are seeing the good things and the crazy things Republicans said were going to happen didn't happen."

Recently the No. 2 Democrat in the House, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, acknowledged that health care reform was a liability for the party in the 2010 elections, but he said he believes polls now show that time and public awareness about the law will help Democrats on the ballot this November.

Each day leading up to Friday's anniversary, Democrats and a coalition of outside health care advocates will focus on five specific themes, highlighting a different one each day. These include talking about benefits for senior citizens, lower costs for prescription drugs, expanded coverage for women and new insurance requirements to cover children and young adults as well as people with pre-existing conditions.

Supporters in Congress are expected to keep the message machine cranked up with press events featuring people talking about personal experiences with the law, links to facts about the law disseminated on social media, and speeches.

But because many in Washington have already made up their minds about the issue, Democrats and pro-health care groups will also target their message beyond the nation's capital.

Top Cabinet officials will travel to events across the country to talk about how the law has worked so far, according to an Obama administration official. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will go to St Louis on Monday to discuss the law's impact on senior citizens.

"We're reaching out to see people out in their communities. This is part of our regular communication with the American people," the official told CNN, emphasizing there's been an ongoing effort in the last two years to educate consumers.

Obama hasn't made major remarks on the topic recently, but his campaign has taken to social media in recent days to remind people of the law's benefits.

In a tweet Friday, the president's Twitter account gave a statistic about how many people would be affected by the law's (officially called the Affordable Care Act) change on coverage: "@BarackObama The #ACA lifted lifetime caps on health care for 105 million Americans-so coverage will be there when they need it."

GOP pushes for repeal, highlights 'broken promises'

Republicans view the two-year anniversary and the three days of arguments over the health care law in the Supreme Court next week as golden opportunities to show the government is overreaching and to argue again that the law needs to be repealed entirely. With polls indicating the public still sharply divided on the issue, GOP aides said that showing the overall costs and impact on the nation's deficit ties into their message that Obama isn't focused on the economy and rising gas prices.

A memo from the Republican National Committee released Friday promised a two-week campaign: "Working with our allies on the Hill and in key battleground states, we're spearheading an aggressive offense to draw attention to the failures and unpopularity of Obamacare."

House and Senate Republicans are both promising to highlight what one senior GOP Senate leadership aide called the "broken promises" Democrats made about costs coming down and the deficit being lowered.

Leaders as well as rank-and-file GOP members will pen editorials for their local papers, head to the floor to make speeches deriding what they see as the law's intrusive provisions and use social media to conduct "Twitter town halls" to engage voters around the country in the debate.

"Every Republican in the building is eager to talk about health care," the senior GOP aide said.

House GOP leaders have also scheduled a vote this week to repeal a key component of the law known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The panel consists of 15 experts who are tasked with making recommendations on how to achieve the Medicare savings in the law that help offset new health care costs. Republicans argue the panel gives "unelected bureaucrats" more power over medical decisions than patients and their doctors and would result in "rationing" care.

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate, referred to this proposal as a "death panel," arguing its decisions outweighed patients and doctors. But congressional Republicans have refrained from reviving the term so far.

While some Democrats have criticized the structure of the Independent Payment Advisory Board and are likely to vote to eliminate it, they oppose it mostly because it takes power from Congress and gives it to the executive branch. These Democrats still believe the health care law is working.

The House GOP's campaign arm is also marking the occasion by running ads against a handful of House Democrats who voted against repealing health care when Republicans took over in January 2011.

Paul Lindsay, spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee, said the ads "will continue to hold Democrats accountable for cutting $500 billion from Medicare in order to pay for Obamacare."

The same week health care approaches its second anniversary, House GOP Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin will also roll out his annual budget proposal. As it did last year, it's expected to include a plan to make dramatic changes in Medicare to counter the program's impact on the nation's deficit.

Congressional Democrats are already honing in on that proposal, saying it shows Republicans are more concerned with continuing tax breaks for the wealthy than protecting care for senior citizens. The bitterly partisan battle on the GOP's changes to Medicare promises to be as divisive as the debate over health care was two years ago.

Debate ramps up ahead of Supreme Court arguments

After Friday's anniversary, the focus turns from Capitol Hill to the Supreme Court, which has scheduled three days of oral arguments on challenges to the health care law.

A coalition of health care advocacy groups that lobbied for the law in 2009 are planning events in more than 30 states starting this week to demonstrate how the law is working and to feature women, senior citizens and young adults who would be hurt if the law is repealed. Many of the events are slotted in swing states such as Nevada, Colorado and Ohio.

Groups that back the law have also rented out space in a church near the Supreme Court, where they will gather supporters to show public backing for the three days the high court will consider the case. They plan to hold daily press conferences to draw attention to personal health care stories.

Republicans plan a rally on Capitol Hill on March 27 featuring top GOP leaders and other opponents. The event is timed for the same day the court is scheduled to hear arguments about whether the law's requirement that all individuals enroll in a health care plan or pay fines is constitutional.

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Health care message wars heat up again

GOP candidates for the 2012 presidential nomination have made rolling back the law a central promise of their campaigns.

Democrats stress benefits, argue warnings never happened

But because many in Washington have already made up their minds about the issue, Democrats and pro-health care groups will also target their message beyond the nation's capital.

Obama hasn't made major remarks on the topic recently, but his campaign has taken to social media in recent days to remind people of the law's benefits.

GOP pushes for repeal, highlights 'broken promises'

"Every Republican in the building is eager to talk about health care," the senior GOP aide said.

The House GOP's campaign arm is also marking the occasion by running ads against a handful of House Democrats who voted against repealing health care when Republicans took over in January 2011.

Debate ramps up ahead of Supreme Court arguments

After Friday's anniversary, the focus turns from Capitol Hill to the Supreme Court, which has scheduled three days of oral arguments on challenges to the health care law.

View the original article here