Gov. Romney, in San Diego, touts Mass. health insurance law

By Keith Darcé
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 9, 2006

Lawmakers in California and other states who are grappling with health insurance reform should model their efforts after a new Massachusetts law that requires everyone in the state to obtain medical insurance by July 2007, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said yesterday in San Diego.



Gov. Mitt Romney
“People always ask me, 'How much of this can be applied in our state?' Well, I don't have a precise answer to that, but a good portion can,” Romney told a gathering of health insurance managers at the San Diego Convention Center.

Measures containing portions of the Massachusetts law have been proposed in California but have either failed to become law or were rejected by voters. In recent days, however, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has suggested that the Massachusetts law could serve as a road map for insurance reform in California.

“Other states are going to learn from us,” Romney said during the opening session of America's Health Insurance Plans' annual conference and trade show. “Some will find that the things we have done don't apply to them. Others will find that they are pretty helpful.

“States will take what we have done and do one better,” he predicted.

Romney, a Republican and a likely contender for his party's presidential nomination in 2008, spearheaded the bipartisan effort in Massachusetts to insure about 500,000 residents who didn't have health coverage.