“I keep on scratching my head,” Mr. Obama said at a fund-raising reception in Boston. “I say, ‘Boy, this Massachusetts [health care] thing, who designed that?’ ”
In response, Mr. Romney is reminding audiences that Mr. Obama has cast the Republicans as the “party of no,” devoid of ideas. “And yet,” Mr. Romney said in Bedford, “he’s saying that I was the guy that came up with the idea for what he did. He can’t have it both ways.”
He added, “If ever again somewhere down the road I would be debating him, I would be happy to take credit for his accomplishment.”…
One difference, he said, is that Massachusetts, unlike Washington, did not finance its plan with a tax increase. But Massachusetts officials acknowledge that they were able to make the numbers work only by gaining federal permission to redirect Medicaid dollars that compensated hospitals for treating the uninsured. Since Mr. Romney left office in 2007, the state has raised taxes to keep the program afloat during the recession.
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