It begins: Pawlenty hits Mitt over RomneyCare

The bill before Congress, he said, is similar to a program implemented in Massachusetts, where costs have run higher than expected. Pawlenty said the costs of the Massachusetts plan, which succeeded in reducing the number of the uninsured, is up to $1.3 billion for 2009, well above the $387 million originally budgeted when passed earlier this decade.

The shot at Massachusetts is an implicit attack on the Bay State’s former governor, Mitt Romney (R). Romney, a leading contender for the 2008 GOP nomination who is contemplating another run in 2012, played a major role in passing the Massachusetts healthcare reform plan.

Pawlenty pointed out costs in Minnesota, which he said is rising at a rate of 20 percent every biennium. He worried such exploding burdens on budgets would bankrupt states, and instead of the Romney plan he pointed to a program he helped implement that links quality of care and cost.