Mitt Romney’s Defense of Insurance Industry Attacked in DNC Web Video

ABC News’ Teddy Davis reports: As a coalition of liberal groups prepares to target insurance industry executives at Washington’s Ritz Carlton Hotel on Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee is releasing a new web video targeting likely Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for saying multiple times over the last week that the insurance industry is not to blame for America’s out-of-control health care spending. Romney, who first made the insurance industry remarks while appearing Tuesday on David Letterman’s show, said during a Friday speech to the National Press Club that he was disappointed in the way in which Obama has scapegoated insurance companies during the health-care debate. Romney said that some insurers deserve blame but argued that the cost problem stems from a lack of sufficient market signals rather than from insurance companies hungry for ever larger profits. In an effort to bolster his argument, he noted that the largest insurer in his state, Blue Cross-Blue Shield, is non-profit. Watch the DNC’s new web video HERE.
A Romney adviser responded to the DNC’s web video by alleging that the attack stems from a desire on the part of President Obama to replace the insurance industry with government insurance.   “There’s a reason why President Obama and his attack dogs at the DNC demonize the insurance industry and it’s because they haven’t given up on the idea of health care being totally run by the government,” said Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom. “Obama doesn’t like third party payers. Instead, he wants to turn the government into the direct purchaser of all health care services in the country. It’s really quite frightening.”