RomneyCare Vs. ObamaCare - The Big Differences

	RomneyCare	ObamaCare
Overall Size and Scope	1) Whole bill was 70 pages 2) Romney vetoed significant sections of the bill including the employer penalty for not providing health insurance 3) Romney favored an “opt out” provision from the mandate 4) Romney wanted no mandated benefits for health care coverage, 'catastrophic' coverage only 5) No federal gov. insurance option 6) Intended as a market driven solution to healthcare	1) Whole bill was 2,074 pages 2) Very broad regulation of the insurance industry including an employer penalty for not providing health insurance  3) No “opt out” provision 4) Many mandated benefits. Establishes a 15 member board of unelected bureaucrats with great control over health care benefits and risks rationing health care 5) Leaves open the option of creating single-payer gov. insurance in the future 6) Intended as a step toward gov. run insurance
Costs	1) No new taxes! 2) Romney balanced the state’s budget first, then passed healthcare law 3) No cuts to Medicare benefits 4) Modest cost to state (only added 1% to state budget)	1) Increased taxes by $500 billion -Taxes people who don’t buy insurance 2) Despite massive federal gov. debt, Obama still passed Obamacare 3) Cuts Medicare by $719 billion 4) Overall costs unknown!
Popularity	1) Very strong bipartisan support 2) Strong special interest support 3) Very popular among the public in Massachusetts 4) Strong consensus of approval was built in the state to support the law -Consensus was built to support an individual mandate	1) Absolutely no bipartisan support 2) Very controversial and divided special interest groups 3) Unpopular in nation overall 4) No consensus was built to support a mandate
Does the Constitution Define it as a “Tax” or “Penalty/Fee”?	1) Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts ruled state mandates are “penalties” because states have different authority and powers than the fed. gov. -Massachusetts constitution never considered this a tax	1) Supreme Court ruled that federal gov. only has the authority to enact this law by its ability to “tax,” and does not meet the required standards to be considered a “penalty.” -This tax will be enforced by the IRS -Breaks Obama’s promise that he would not raise taxes on the middle class
Federalism	1) A unique solution created by a state to solve its particular problems -Through collaboration and discussion, Massachusetts created a consensus among stakeholders to support the new law 2) Much easier to change and adapt a state law if problems arise. If MA doesn’t like the law, they can change it.  -ObamaCare, however, is a new federal/nationwide entitlement program (like Medicare & Social Security), thus extremely difficult to reform.	1) Federal gov. “one-size-fits-all” plan -Doesn’t take into account that each state is unique in important ways such as: A)Vastly different debt levels between states (some states can’t afford new spending on health care) B)Some states have twice the percentage of uninsured citizens (Much greater costs will be imposed on states with a larger percentage of uninusured citizens) C)Conservative states and citizens will reject implementation of federal gov. plan, including the individual mandate
Different Outcomes from Each Plan	1) 98.1% of adults and 99.8% of children have health insurance 2) The number of employers offering health insurance went up from 70% to 76% 3) Did not make doctor shortages worse 4) Overall, premium prices have gone down for most groups 5) No negative affect on job creation in the state 6) Created to help the poor afford health insurance	1) According to the CBO, 30 million people will still not have health insurance after fully implemented. Only covers an additional 6.3% of Americans. 10% of America will still be uninsured 2) The CBO estimates that fewer people will get health insurance from their employer  3) NY Times says it will make doctors shortages worse in some areas of the country 4) Since passage, premium prices have risen 9% per year 5) CBO estimates there will be less jobs as a result 6) Some states will have almost everyone in the state getting some form of subsidy to buy health insurance