I posted this at HotAir as a comment on an AP article about GOP activists who are still unenthusiastic about Romney:

I listened to Romney's speech last week about health care, and it made me think about the fundamental problem that we all face. I have a cousin who used to be a hospital administrator who verified that the biggest problem of the health care system is free riders, those who forgo buying insurance but show up at the ER and have to be treated despite having no means to pay, especially when they have major medical problems. These costs have to be passed on to everyone else, but health insurance companies and employers who furnish these benefits, object to paying them.

I'm all in favor of repealing Obamacare, but I think that people who flatly reject Romney because of the Massachusetts plan, need to face up to the free rider problem, the malpractice costs, etc. and decide how we're going to deal with them. Individual mandates aren't Constitutional, but do we want doctors and hospitals to turn people away who don't have insurance in violation of their Hippocratic Oath?

Mitt Romney is a serious analyst, not a demagogue, and he deserves to be treated seriously and not dismissed on the basis of a single word, "Romneycare."