Mitt Romney would seem to be the person who will benefit the most from the political demise of Obama. There’s no other Republican that ran in 2008 that has a proven record. While Romney has a track record of success in troubling situations he’s also saddled with RomneyCare.

The issue of health care wasn’t settled when Obama signed the bill into law yesterday. This is going to be hotly contested issue for years to come. That’s why the events in Massachusetts are going to be an important factor.

Like the bill that President Obama signed on Sunday, the 2006 Massachusetts plan was sold to voters on the now-familiar promise that it would reduce costs and lower unnecessary emergency room visits. That’s not what happened.

Since the bill became law, the state’s total direct health-care spending has increased by a remarkable 52 percent. Medicaid spending has gone from less than $6 billion a year to more the $9 billion. Many consumers have seen double-digit percentage increases in their premiums.

Even more striking, the 2006 law has done little to ease the burden on emergency rooms, a central goal of all heath care reform plans. A report by the Boston Globe found that in the first two years of the program, the state’s ER costs actually rose by 17 percent. “They said that ER visits would drop by 75 percent, and it hasn’t been even close to that,” said State Treasurer Tim Cahill, who is currently running for governor as an Independent. “It hasn’t changed people’s habits. It hasn’t been successful at getting people to use less expensive alternatives.”

Nothing about the problems of RomneyCare in Massachusetts should be surprising. This is the inevitable outcome of government intervention in a complex market. Politicians always overestimate the benefits and underestimate the costs. The question going forward is, will Romney defend his record in Massachusetts or will he have another “I’ve seen the light” moment?

There’s something to be said about using the states as the testing ground for reform; however, in the case of ObamaCare there are no useful success stories that we can reference. Health care is about to become more expensive.