Hey, it's Jonathan Cohn here at the bulwark in front of the State House in Massachusetts on a pretty

important day when they celebrated the 20th anniversary of the 2006 health care law.

It's the reason that almost everybody in Massachusetts has health insurance and was the inspiration

for the Affordable Care Act nationwide. They had a big event to celebrate it. One of the speakers was

Mitt Romney, the governor who was instrumental in crafting and then signed the law.

He sat down, let's talk about what made it possible, how a conservative Republican businessman

ended up across the table from liberal Democrats in one of the bluest states in America

and how they found a way to get to a deal and whether that kind of politics is still possible

in America.

And if not, what it'll take to get it back?

Here's our conversation. My guest is former Senator Mitt Romney and former governor,

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, which is where we are today. Very special reason

for that. We are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 2006 health care law, which you were instrumental

in writing, passing. Of course, you signed it.

Transformational legislation here, also widely seen as the sort of proof of concept, inspiration,

prototype for the Affordable Care Act, for better or worse, depending on your opinion.

I'm sure we'll get into that in a minute.

But really what I was excited to talk to you about

and what I hope we can spend time talking about is how the Massachusetts law came to be and how you,

a conservative Republican governor, came to work with liberal Democrats in one of the bluest states

in America to pass this law. I was at the event today this morning. It was a big celebration at

Faniel Hall. And I know this story, but what what I thought was fascinating. I mean, this is your signature accomplishment. I know the portrait of you has your wife's picture and the Massachusetts law on the desk. You didn't campaign on health care, right? It was that kind of, no, no. And it was a business contact of yours who kind of brought it up to you. Yeah, I was on the board before I became governor of a company called Staples. I've heard of it. I've heard of it. Right. Yeah. And the founder of that company was a guy named Tom Stemberg. Right. And he came into my office when I'd been governor for a few months. And he said, you know, Mitt, why'd you run for governor? And I said, Tom, you've heard my campaign speech. You know, I want to help people, want to help people of our state. And he said, well, if you really want to help people, you'll get everybody health insurance. And it's like, I said, Tom, you can't, you just can't get there. It would cost a fortune. You know you know we can't it's not possible he said yeah but

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