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Defending Mitt Romney

by: elwood

Mon Jan 09, 2012 at 18:52:54 PM EST
When Governor Romney said, "I like to be able to fire people," he wasn't talking about firing employees. He was talking about "firing" your health insurance company.

My daddy wasn't a multi-millionaire and I never ran a private equity firm. For my entire working life, I have been unable to fire my health insurance provider.

That isn't because of "Obamacare." It's because the employer, not the worker, chooses the insurance provider. And most employers choose providers based on who cuts them the best deal - often by imposing more and more screenings and paperwork on the employees.

Employers don't usually even offer the workers a choice of health insurance providers, as they often do with 401-K plan providers.. That's largely because rates are lower when more people are in the insurance pool.

So, Mitt saying "I like to fire people" isn't evidence of his heartlessness.

It's evidence of his silver-spoon cluelessness about the lives that voters live.
elwood :: Defending Mitt Romney
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Defending Mitt Romney | 11 comments
My thoughts exactly. (4.00 / 1)
I'd rate this diary a 4 if it was a comment.
But it doesn't matter (4.00 / 1)
what he meant, it matters what is heard.  He's not a clear speaker, which is most likely because he is thoroughly inauthentic and it's hard to express yourself when you are trying to figure out what the audience wants to hear. Especially when the audience isn't all on the same page.
The only ones of this group who can carry a clear message are the really far out ones who don't really care what their audience is thinking.  
Yes (0.00 / 0)
David Bernstein suggested the comment has been overblown. And it has, but very slightly.
Under Obamacare, workers could have the option to choose their own coverage (4.00 / 1)
That isn't because of "Obamacare." It's because the employer, not the worker, chooses the insurance provider.

Under some potential models of the health benefit exchanges passed under the new health law -- "one-stop shops" to find and compare affordable, quality health insurance options for families and small businesses -- small businesses would be able to allow their employees to choose their own plans.

In fact, depending on the model set up in each respective state, it's possible that employers could arrange to a) select a plan for employees; b) allow workers to select among all plans in a plan level (similar benefit packages compared side by side); c) offer their employees choice of all plans in the entire Exchange; or d) offer some other combination of plans for employees to choose from.

That's a lot of opportunity to "fire" the insurance company if you don't like what's going on with your health coverage. Opportunities that really do not exist at all right now for most workers, as Elwood correctly points out.

#thanksobamacare

little camera girl

Zandra Rice Hawkins (Granite State Progress)

Employer-based healthcare makes the labor market less free. (0.00 / 0)
It makes hiring prohibitive and quitting unnecessarily risky.  Both employers and employees would be better served by a healthcare system that does not rely on that particular relationship.

--
Twitter: @DougLindner
That would depend on what the alternative is. (0.00 / 0)
A voucher to buy your own, funded less each year as budgets get cut, would not be "more free" or better serve workers.
[ Parent ]
This is why we need (4.00 / 1)
a single payer universal health care program not linked to employment.  It is the only answer for America's healthcare needs to provide for all, to lower costs, and to make American industry competitive with the rest of the world.  

But we don't hear that from republicans and democrats are weak as well even though they know that this is the solution to this major problem.

[ Parent ]
Kontextual Karma - (4.00 / 6)
It's worth remembering how shamelessly and gleefully the Romney campaign cut an ad taking Obama's words out of context.

Payback is a... dog that you strapped on top of your car for 600 miles.

cluelessness on many levels (4.00 / 2)
given that the health insurance cartel is controlled by about 8 corporations. Not much "choice" going on there.

I did love the poll  that reveals something like 2% of voters think Mitt Romney's real name is Mittens.

Yeah... fire your insurance company (4.00 / 2)
Does that come before or after they...
(1) deny you benefits
(2) remove you from eligibility as you get sick
(3) cut you off after paying one period of benefits
(4) turn you loose to find some new insurance carrier who will take you on with a pre-existing condition
(5) raise your rates to double your mortgage payment.

That will sure solve a lot of problems for sick people. Just fire your insurance company!  OMG this man is completely out of touch with reality. The robot does not seem to come fully packed with software!  Maybe there's a new version that includes empathy.

 "The future is not something to be predicted, it's something to be achieved,"  unattributed aphorism



keep your Mitts off my healthcare n/t (4.00 / 5)


note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other
Defending Mitt Romney | 11 comments

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