Former Romney Adviser: Without RomneyCare, We Wouldn’t Have ObamaCare

[3DG4life]

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has attempted to distance his statewide health care plan from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as he positions himself for the 2012 presidential primaries.

But MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, who advised both Romney and President Obama on their health care reform plans, told the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin today that without Romney’s plan (and more specifically, that plan’s individual mandate) President Obama never could have gotten his plan through Congress:

He says that as the federal health care plan emerged, the Massachusetts plan was “widely discussed.” [...]

In his opinion, without the Massachusetts plan the federal individual mandate plan wouldn’t have garnered acceptance and gotten through. “It was huge,” Gruber says, to have the Massachusetts plan to point to. And without it, he thinks “it’s likely” ObamaCare wouldn’t have become law.

ThinkProgress » Former Romney Adviser Jonathan Gruber: Without RomneyCare, We Wouldn’t Have ObamaCare

I agree with the good professor. I also don't think it's likely the individual mandate would've came about had Republicans not championed the idea in the 90's. I love how a conservative idea has become their favorite target of choice.