Rick Santorum is delivering a speech in Rochester, Minnesota — the hometown of the Mayo Clinic — to blister Mitt Romney for having first passed health care reform with the individual mandate in Massachusetts, paving the way for President Obama’s health insurance law at the federal level.
“So I wanted to lay out today the facts as to why this debate on health care is central to our country, central to this race, and specifically why Governor Romney is absolutely incapable of making the case against Obamacare successfully, and therefore greatly damages our ability to win this election, this very critical election, in 2012. Because there is no greater issue in this race, than freedom.”
Santorum also said that both the Massachusetts and federal laws involve boards to lay out guidelines for the effectiveness of different treatments — and he invoked a famous slogan of Sarah Palin’s, without naming her directly.
“Someone referred to these types of board as ‘death panels,’ said Santorum. “Why? Because they ultimately choose to ration care for people who they don’t believe these procedures are effective — that the utilization isn’t worth the cost.”
