For weeks, Mitt Romney has been parrying attacks on his Massachusetts healthcare record while taking swipes at Rick Perry over his handling of immigration. But Romney could soon face a double-barreled dose of irony in the combination of both issues.
The Los Angeles Times reports that under Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare law, illegal immigrants can access medical care under a government program called the Health Safety Net. This program allows undocumented foreigners and other uninsured to get subsidized care simply by visiting a clinic.
Reports the Times:
Such a policy, some healthcare experts believe, can help control costs by making less expensive care available instead of forcing critically ill, uninsured patients to go to emergency rooms, where care is far more costly.
Massachusetts funds its Health Safety Net with some state money and by assessing fees on hospitals and insurers. The money is redistributed to providers who file claims for the patients who sign up for the program.
What was once an obvious vulnerability for Romney along one dimension — healthcare spending — is now likely to endanger the former governor on other issues. How voters will ultimately respond to the new details about the Massachusetts law is unclear, but given the virulence that Romney and Perry have faced on healthcare and immigration, respectively, merging the two would leave Romney with another wide-open flank.
On the campaign trail, Romney has insisted he’d be tough on illegal immigrants by building a fence on America’s border with Mexico and promising to “stop providing the incentives that promote illegal immigration.”
