April 12 is the sixth anniversary of Massachusetts health care reform, affectionately known as “Romneycare.” GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has shied away from his greatest success as an elected official, back when he was governor of the Bay State.

Two key features of the law are a personal-responsibility requirement that everyone be covered and a state-run agency to help uninsured people obtain coverage to satisfy the requirement or face a tax penalty.

At bill signing six years ago, the governor said Romneycare would lead to “expanding coverage to all our citizens.”

In the January 26, 2012, CNN GOP Florida Debate, Romney articulately defended Romneycare:

“Let me tell you this about our system in Massachusetts: 92 percent of our people were insured before we put our plan in place. Nothing’s changed for them. The system is the same. They have private market-based insurance. We had 8 percent of our people that weren’t insured. And so what we did is we said let’s find a way to get them insurance, again, market-based private insurance. We didn’t come up with some new government insurance plan.”

Thanks, Mitt! Please join health care reform advocates from across the country in expressing your gratitude at thanksromneycare.org!