Cato goes after Romney on Massachusetts plan

An influential conservative think tank is firing a broadside at ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R), criticizing the potential WH'12 contender for a health care plan they say looks identical to Pres. Obama's.

"When you run down this list of elements in the Obama plan and the Romney plan, they are all identical," says Michael Cannon, the Cato Institute's director of Health Policy Studies, in a new video running on the group's website. "Both the Romney plan and the Obama plan are essentially a government takeover of the health care sector of the economy."

Romney's signature achievement during his tenure in the Bay State, CommonwealthCare, has now become a serious liability for a potential WH'12 bid. Romney's approach was controversial among think tank conservatives then; now, with the spotlight on health care, some are convinced it will be a deal-breaker.

"As Pres. Obama himself has pointed out, Romney is the guy who created the prototype for Obamacare," said Cato executive VP David Boaz. "How can he lead the charge against a health care plan that is modeled on his own?"

Romney has pushed back hard, dismissing comparisons between the 2 plans as inaccurate.

"Pres. Obama has tried to compare Gov. Romney's plan to his own but there are important differences. Gov. Romney's plan is different because it didn't include a tax increase, and it didn't cut care to seniors, and most importantly, it is based on the premise that states should be free to pursue their own healthcare solutions," said Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior advisor to Romney's Free and Strong America PAC.

"Under Gov. Romney, Massachusetts solved the problem of the uninsured without raising taxes. Other states are free to copy what he did, or improve on it, or chart their own course, but we should reject a federal one-size-fits-all plan," Fehrstrom added.

My take:

The first graf of this piece insinuates that Massachusetts copied, or borrowed heavily from, Obamacare. In fact, Massachusetts enacted its plan several years ago. Congress enacted Obamacare this year.

There's another slant to this story that intrigues me. Perhaps Obama's handlers tailored Obamacare after the Massachusetts plan so as to make a presidential run by Romney difficult, if not impossible. If so, their scheme has succeeded. While Romney has survived his difficulty to this point, and still appears to be a viable candidate, that could change when the presidential primary campaign heats up and his rivals go after him.

This theory assumes more intelligence and skill than I believe the Obama team possesses, but it is plausible.

To see a video of the Cato attack on Romney, go here: http://www.cato.org/pressroom.php