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Bill Weld on Health Care
Libertarian Party nominee for Vice Pres.; former GOP MA Governor; 2020 GOP Presidential Challenger
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Supports increased Medicaid access
Before Medicaid expansion was available to states, Weld petitioned the federal government as governor for additional Medicaid funding for Massachusetts.
He then relaxed the state's Medicaid requirements, partly to increase health care access but also to deal with a budget crunch.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
, Feb 15, 2019
More consumer choice instead of single-payer
Instead of arguing endlessly and fruitlessly about whether the Affordable Care Act should be repealed there are various commonsense health care issues that could be addressed immediately, across party lines. Consumers should be permitted to establish
personal health care savings accounts, and to choose their health care provider. They should be free to purchase pharmaceutical drugs across state lines and also in other countries. Their choice, not the government's.
Source: Speech in New Hampshire by 2020 presidential hopefuls
, Feb 15, 2019
Tweak ObamaCare with more free market and more choices
Q: How to improve Obama Care?Donald Trump: ObamaCare is a disaster. You know it, we all know it. It is going up at numbers that nobody has ever seen worldwide. Nobody has ever seen numbers like this for health care. It is only getting worse.
In 2017, it implodes by itself. ObamaCare has pushed the uninsured rate to an all-time low of just over 9 percent while extending coverage to some
20 million people (including Medicaid expansion, exchanges and young adults on family plans). The uninsured rate would be lower still had the 19 holdout states expanded Medicaid.
Bill Weld: I would tweak ObamaCare to make it work better--more market mechanisms, greater role for doctors and patients, narrow the individual mandate.
Source: N.Y. Times on Second 2016 Presidential Debate
, Oct 10, 2016
Likes health savings accounts & more competition
I've in the past thought that health savings accounts were a good idea so that's getting more of the decision-making into the hands of the individual so to that extent I'm not thematically off this truck.
But I think if you can introduce more competition, let people shop across state lines. I thought [former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich] wasn't crazy when he proposed letting people shop in Canada.
Source: Washington Post interview of Johnson & Weld on 2016 election
, Jul 7, 2016
Relaxed the eligibility rules for care under Medicaid
When Governor Weld assumed office in 1991, his administration confronted the reoccurring Medicaid funding problem. He petitioned the federal government for a waiver, obtaining additional federal funding under a false assumption that his reforms would
be "budget neutral." Once the waiver was granted, the Weld administration relaxed the eligibility rules for care under Medicaid in Massachusetts. The result was an explosion in Medicaid applications, going from 670,000 in 1995 to over a million in 2001.
Source: Reflections Magazine, "Mitt's massive mess": 2016 Veepstakes
, Aug 1, 2011
Vetoed cigarette-tax hike that paid for kids' health care
As governor of Massachusetts he cut taxes sixteen times, balanced the budget annually, pursued privatization, vetoed minimum wage increases, and even rejected higher levies on cigarettes to pay for health care for children.
(Let's repeat that last one: He vetoed a cigarette-tax hike that would have paid for children's health care--in Massachusetts.)
Source: American Spectator, "Understanding Bill Weld"
, Aug 25, 2005
Page last updated: Feb 25, 2020