Tonight Mitt Romney said “My view is get the federal government out of Medicaid, get it out of health care.”  What Romney failed to mention, however, is the health care plan he put in place in Massachusetts required federal funding to the tune of 50% of the cost.

HALF OF ROMNEY’S MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH CARE PLAN WAS PAID FOR BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Romney Admitted That Half His Massachusetts Plan Was Funded By The Federal Government To Provide Subsidies To Help People Buy Insurance. “O’REILLY: You know me. I’m a simple man. Okay? You say you solved the problem in the state, but depending on 50 percent of your funding from the Feds. ROMNEY: As we did from the beginning. O’REILLY: Okay, but I’m just telling you, I don’t know if you solved the problem or the people in Idaho solved it. ROMNEY: No, but what we did is we took the money the Feds used to send us-- O’REILLY: Yes. ROMNEY: --to give to the hospitals that were giving out free care. The hospitals were doing that before. And we said, look, can we take that money that you give to us that we give to the hospitals and instead of giving it to hospitals-- O’REILLY: You’ve spread it around. ROMNEY: We’re going to use it to help people buy insurance. O’REILLY: Okay. One more and-- ROMNEY: It was not a new burden on the federal government. It was a redirection of what they’ve been doing before.” [O’Reilly, Fox News, 4/12/10]

Salon: In Romney’s Massachusetts Health Care Plan, “State Funding Is Matched By A Roughly Equivalent Amount From Washington.”  “But Wallace was right about the ‘millions of dollars from the federal government.’ State funding is matched by a roughly equivalent amount from Washington, as Romney conceded.” [Timothy Noah, Slate, 3/10/10]

National Review: Romney’s Health Care Plan Relied On Over $300 Million In Federal Subsidies. “Romney has taken to making three arguments in his defense. First, he criticizes Obamacare for its $669 billion in tax increases, claiming that the Massachusetts plan did not increase taxes. That is technically true — if you consider only the legislation as Romney signed it. However, it is also true that the legislation relied heavily on federal subsidies — more than $300 million — and was still underfunded.” [National Review, 12/1/10]

Romney’s Health Care Plan Relied Heavily On Federal Stimulus And Medicaid Funds. Brian Moody’s profile on Romney’s health care plan published in the Boston Globe read: “Another source of concern is that the state, during the economic downswing, relied heavily on federal stimulus funds — $582 million over three years — to meet the expense of the health overhaul. But that revenue source, designed to offset some of the expense of the unemployed moving onto Medicaid, expires June 30, meaning the state will have to come up with almost $200 million from another revenue source next year. Without the bonus federal Medicaid funds, the price tag for the state’s share will rise from about 1.2 percent to about 1.8 percent of the total state budget.”  [Brian Mooney, Boston Globe, 6/26/11]