GOP presidential hopeful Romney continues defense of Mass. health overhaul

In defending the reform he oversaw as the state's governor, he continues to draw differences between that plan and the federal health law.

The Associated Press: Romney Seeks To Address Health Care Woes
Call it an attempt to address an obvious political vulnerability. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Saturday derided President Barack Obama's health care law — modeled in some ways after one the ex-governor signed in Massachusetts — as a misguided and egregious effort to seize more power for Washington (Sidoti, 3/6).

Politico: Voters: 'Romneycare' Not Fatal
"Romneycare" will dog Mitt in New Hampshire, but it won't kill him. Two dozen Republicans interviewed by POLITICO this weekend said they're disappointed Mitt Romney created an individual mandate in Massachusetts requiring medical coverage, but appreciate both his vocal promises to repeal "Obamacare" and his embrace of state's rights (Hohmann, 3/6).

National Journal: Romney Critiques Obama, Health Care Bill In N.H.
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney attacked the health care reform law Saturday in his first speech before the New Hampshire Republicans this year. Romney's critique focused heavily on what he called the bad policy and economic impact of the health care law. Romney has been a critic of the health care law in the past but Saturday's speech further pushes the former Massachusetts governor's position into the national spotlight. "Obamacare is bad law, bad policy, and it is bad for America's families," Romney said. "I would repeal Obamacare, if I were ever in a position to do so." Romney also addressed the apparent conflict between his attacks on the Obama plan and the Massachusetts individual mandate he helped enact. He defended the plan as an experiment to address the specific problems of his state, not the nation as a whole. In the past, Obama has referred to Romney's statewide mandate as a model for the national health care law (Snell, 3/5).