Mitt Romney's Defining Moment

摘要

The official story of how health-care reform was conceived in Massachusetts could hardly have been less inspiring—or promising. In the earliest days after Mitt Romney's election in 2002, goes the tale, the new Governor of Massachusetts sat down in his office with his old friend Tom Stemberg, founder of the Staples office-supply chain. "There are lots of things you can do to make this state better," Stemberg told him. "But if you really want to make a difference in the long term, you should fix the health-care system." Romney did not exactly jump at the prospect. It would cost billions of dollars; he was already facing a budget deficit and had promised not to raise taxes. Michael Dukakis had tried to tackle the same issue in 1988, and he provoked so much outrage from the Massachusetts business community that his plan was repealed before it ever went into effect. And then there was the cautionary tale of Hillary Clinton's disastrous experience with a national health-care-reform plan in 1994. "No, thanks," Romney recalls telling Stemberg. it just can't be done." So that was that, Stemberg thought. "I just figured he'd forgotten about it."