Pawlenty campaigns hard on health care but his own record is complicated

The former Minnesota governor is an ardent foe of Obama's health plan and dismisses health reform efforts by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. The Minnesota Star Tribune and Kaiser Health News explore how Pawlenty handled the issue.

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Pawlenty Changes His Approach On Health Care
Now, as he rails against "Obamacare," the landmark federal health care law, (former Minn. Gov. Tim) Pawlenty makes a virtue of his eight years as governor of a state with one of the best health care systems in the nation, one that's often held up as a model for market reforms that improve quality, increase efficiency and contain costs. But to some health care experts — including some whose counsel he sought as governor — Pawlenty's critique of Obamacare is a tale of two governors: From one who embraced the goal of universal coverage to one more focused on budgets, costs and what he calls "timeless conservative principles" (Diaz, 8/6).

Kaiser Health News: Pawlenty Points To Minn. Health Law As Model For U.S.
GOP presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty has scorned the health plans engineered by President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, even linking them with the term Obamneycare. Instead, the former Minnesota governor is brandishing a health plan his state passed in 2008 as a model for the nation (Werber Serafini, 8/8).