Posted on March 14, 2012

Romney In '07: The Individual Mandate Is "Ultimate Conservatism"



In this 2007 interview, Mitt Romney defends the individual mandate that was a part of the health care legislation he signed into law in Massachusetts.



"When they show up at the hospital, they get care, they get free care, paid for by you and me. If that's not a form of socialism, I don't know what is. So my plan did something quite different. It said, you know what, if people can afford to buy insurance, if they can afford to buy insurance, or if they can pay their own way, then they either buy that insurance or pay their own way, but they no longer look to government to hand out free care. And that, in my opinion, is ultimate conservatism. That's why the Heritage Foundation worked with us and was at the celebration of the signing. The Heritage Foundation, as you know, a quintessentially conservative group, recognized that the principles of free enterprise and personal responsibility were at work. And I'm proud to talk about what we did. We did not need to raise taxes. We did not need to have the government take over health care. Instead, we rely on private market dynamics to get people in our state insured and for individuals to finally take responsibility for some portion of their health care rather than expecting government to give them a free ride." (h/t BuzzFeed)