Romney Defends His Healthcare Law, Blasts Obama 'Power Grab'

Romney - who may announce a bid to become the Republican candidate for President in 2012 - outlined his views on healthcare in a published opinion piece and in a speech on Thursday as he attempted to explain differences between his efforts as governor and what he would don in the White House.

If elected U.S. President in 2012, Romney said in an opinion piece in the Washington Post that he would call Congress to repeal the 2010 health care law he called ObamaCare.

If I am elected president, I will issue on my first day in office an executive order paving the way for waivers from ObamaCare for all 50 states. Subsequently, I will call on Congress to fully repeal ObamaCare,

Romney defended the Massachusetts health plan which he passed during his 2004 to 2007 tenure, saying it was in line with the needs of his state. The state's law requires each person to buy private health insurance and subsidizes those that cannot afford to.

He said Obama's plan was distrustful of states and free enterprise.

They fundamentally distrust free enterprise and distrust the idea that states are where the power of government resides, he said.

The first distinction between what we did in my state and President Obama's plan is this: Our plan was a state solution to a state problem and his is a power grab by the federal government to put one-size-fits-all plan in place across the nation.

He also said his state's law differed from Obama's plan in that no taxes were raised and cuts were not made to the Medicare program.

Under ObamaCare, taxes are raised by about  $500 billion over 10 years. We of course didn't raise taxes and there were also $500 billion in Medicare cuts not to bring down the cost of Medicare and make the federal budget more balanced but instead, to fund ObamaCare.

He said his position was legal under the U.S. Constitution.

This again, under the 10th amendment was a state decision. Other states can take a different choice. But the state decision we took was to insist upon personal responsibility.

There's no government insurance here. We didn't create a government insurance program or a government policy that people got. No, no. We gave people a premium support program. Where they could buy their own private insurance of their choice and for the poor, we helped them with support.