Politics

Romneycare adviser: Obamacare is ‘the same f–king bill’

J. Arthur Bloom Deputy Editor
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In an interview with Capital, a New York-based online magazine, a key Mitt Romney adviser who helped craft the presidential contender’s controversial Massachusetts healthcare reform law called out his former boss for attempting to put distance between his own law and Obamacare — saying there was “zero difference” between the two.

“They’re the same fucking bill,” Jonathan Gruber told Capital. “He just can’t have his cake and eat it too. Basically, you know, it’s the same bill. He can try to draw distinctions and stuff, but he’s just lying.

“The only big difference is he didn’t have to pay for his [in Massachusetts]. Because the federal government paid for it. Where at the federal level, we have to pay for it, so we have to raise taxes.”

Romney has repeatedly tried to differentiate his state-level health care overhaul from Obama’s nationalized approach.

“Our plan was a state solution to a state problem,” Romney said during a May 12 speech in Ann Arbor, Mich. “And his was a power grab by the federal government to put in place a one-size-fits-all plan across the nation.”

But Gruber called Romney’s hedging the “most blatantly obvious case of politics trumping policy I’ve ever seen in my life. Because this is an idea, that four or five years ago, Republicans were touting. A guy from the Heritage Foundation spoke at the bill signing in Massachusetts about how good this bill was.”

The Romney campaign did not respond to requests from The Daily Caller for comment.

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