Patrick: Romney a "shameless" candidate

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick today called his predecessor, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, "shameless'' for criticizing a federally funded children's health care program while touting his own Massachusetts health care plan.

Like many Republicans, Romney opposes expanding the national SCHIP program to provide insurance to children in lower-income families. Congress has voted to expand the program, which is funded in part by the states, but President Bush is expected to veto it. Democrats and some moderate Republicans say the SCHIP program provides critical coverage to children in low-and moderate-income families, but conservative Republicans call the idea the first step toward socialized medicine.

But Patrick said SCHIP is a crucial element to expanding and maintaining coverage in Massachusetts, where Patrick estimated health care costs are likely to take up half the state budget within the next ten years.

"Without SCHIP, then health reform, which he;s been bragging about, fails. It's the same to me - the same behavior -- as signing the bill and vetoing the funding for it, which is what he did before he left office,'' Patrick said in an interview with Globe reporters and editors. He was referring to a tax provision of the Massachusetts health care plan Romney excised with a line-item veto.

"He's a nice fellow. But a shameless candidate,'' Patrick said of Romney.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Patrick's "name-calling'' was "useless.''

"This is a disagreement over policy. Deval Patrick, like many liberal Democrats, unfortunately favors an expansion of government spending and government control over healthcare. That's bad policy,'' Madden said.

The SCHIP program, which is up for renewal this year, is meant to help needy families obtain health insurance for their children. The program is targeted at families earning twice the poverty level or less -- a little over $40,000 for a family of four -- but the law also allows states to apply to the federal government to cover more families. That provision is intended to help states where the cost of living is higher.

Massachusetts allows families earning three times the poverty level to obtain SCHIP coverage, providing help to 90,500 children in the state, according to statistics culled by the office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts and an architect of the original program.

Some 112,000 children in Massachusetts currently have no insurance, Kennedy's office said. The bill approved by Congress and headed for a presidential veto would allow the Bay State to add 27,400 more children to the program over the next four years.

Opponents of expanding the program don't like the fact that it relies on an increase in the cigarette tax to pay for it; some Republicans believe Democrats will suffer at the polls for voting for a tax increase.

The House does not have enough votes to override a Bush veto, but Democrats have vowed to bring the bill up again and again -- putting some moderate Republicans in an awkward position as they head into their 2008 re-election campaigns.

"We will be back tomorrow, and the next day, and for however long it takes to see this bipartisan bill become law. The President has broken his promise to America’s children,'' Kennedy said.