Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney may have a cure-all for health care reform as the Supreme Court hears arguments about the constitutionality of the law on Monday. The 2,700-page legislation is sure to prove a "costly nightmare" Mr. Romney says, promising that as president, he'd repeal it, then forge a health care system guided by state flexibility, market competition and consumer choice. The candidate already has appointed a five-man "health care policy advisory group" that appears ready to rumble.
At the ready: Scott Atlas, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and chief of neuroradiology at the Stanford University Medical Center; Tom Barker, deputy general counsel and later general counsel for the Health and Human Services Department during the George W. Bush administration; Scott Gottlieb, a practicing physician, American Enterprise Institute fellow and a former Bush-era official in the Food and Drug Administration; Paul Howard, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute; and Tevi Troy, a Hudson Institute senior fellow and former deputy secretary of Health and Human Services in the Bush administration.
If Americans pine for kitchen table economics over unwieldy legislation, a comprehensive "chicken soup"-style health care system with a recipe of straightforward ingredients may cure costly symptoms of Obamacare, some reason.
"The new policy group has someone from Hoover, Hudson, AEI, and Manhattan - four key conservative think tanks. As for what works, all four of the think-tank folks are dedicated to explaining health care in a clear, digestible, and understandable chicken soup way for the public," a source assures Inside the Beltway.