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Poll Shows Most Massachusetts Residents Like 'Romneycare'

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GOP hopefuls Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich call the Massachusetts' health care law passed by Mitt Romney "Romneycare" and they say the plan is sinking the state.

The law requires that every resident have health insurance or pay a fine, and Santorum says that it's an "abject failure," and that health care costs "have blown a hole" in the state budget.

Yet in a new poll from our mother ship station WBUR, 62 percent of residents surveyed support the law that Mitt Romney signed into law five years ago, and 33 percent oppose it.

Perceptions Of Mass. Health Care Across The Country

Bob Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard University told Here & Now's Robin Young that when he talks to people outside of Massachusetts, they think the law is a failure.

"A large share of the audience [outside of Mass.] believes that something is terribly wrong because they've heard stories about how expensive it is... and people who live in the state just have a very different view of what's going on here," he said.

Blendon adds that Massachusetts has long had expensive health care, before Romney's law was passed.

Selected WBUR Poll Data Points:

Its Influence On National Law:
- A majority (54%) said they think the state law was a “major influence” on the national overhaul
- 28% said it was a “minor influence”
- 11% said it was “not an influence”

Romney’s Health Care Stance:
- 68% said they think Mitt Romney disagrees with the national overhaul because he’s “trying to win votes”

Guests:

  • Martha Bebinger, WBUR health care reporter
  • Bob Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard University

This segment aired on February 15, 2012.

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