The Wall Street Journal, September 28, 2007; Page A13

In regard to Mitt Romney's Sept. 20 editorial-page commentary "Where HillaryCare Goes Wrong":

Free-market health analysts welcome Mitt Romney's views, thank him for returning to sanity with his national health proposal, and join him in his critique of Hillary Clinton's big-government health-care plan. What we can't do is stomach his self-serving rewrite of the Massachusetts health reform.

Mr. Romney, along with Sen. Ted Kennedy, blazed the bipartisan path on which Hillary walks with her individual mandate. Mr. Romney says he didn't increase taxes or spending for his plan, but this is certainly wrong. Health spending has increased in Massachusetts, and will continue to do so, due to his building of a bureaucracy and the expansion of taxpayer-funded care.

He takes credit for lowering premiums by as much as 50%, yet this is certainly not a statewide average. Massachusetts still has the highest per-capita health spending in the nation. The plans are deemed so unaffordable that 20% of uninsured people will not be forced to comply. Expected premiums are set as high as 8% of a person's income -- and that's before co-pays and deductibles. And what, may I ask, is a government mandate to purchase something or pay a fine if not a tax?

The list of mischaracterizations goes on and on: The new bureaucracy has not deregulated the market but set new regulations on plan designs; Mr. Romney himself signed a new individual mandate after signing the law; and so far, despite the mandate, only 7,000 people have actually purchased the non-subsidized insurance. By way of contrast, 115,000 have signed up for the completely free -- that is, taxpayer-funded -- option.

There's a good reason why Mr. Romney didn't roll out his Massachusetts plan to the nation. Being based on mandates, new bureaucracy, increased regulation and wishful thinking, it looks a lot like Hillary Clinton's. That's not healthy for anyone.

Sally C. Pipes
President and CEO
Pacific Research Institute
San Francisco