Romney campaign slams Santorum on healthcare

Mitt Romney's campaign on Monday for the first time aimed its guns squarely at Rick Santorum, hitting back in response to the former Pennsylvania senator's blistering attacks against Romney's healthcare record.

Romney is under fire because as governor of Massachusetts in 2006 he signed a healthcare law that's similar to President Obama's national reform law, complete with a requirement that everyone have insurance and a vast expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor. Romney, like every other Republican candidate, has vowed to repeal the federal healthcare reform law if he's elected president.

With Newt Gingrich focusing on Romney's record at Bain Capital, Santorum has recently emerged as the sharpest critic of his healthcare record. The attacks could hurt Romney with conservative voters and might give Santorum a leg up in the Minnesota caucuses on Tuesday.

In a research briefing released Monday, Romney's campaign compiled newspapers' and fact-checking sites' criticisms of Santorum attacks and provided a list of claims they dispute, including: 

• Romney instituted a "top-down, government-run health care system";

• The Massachusetts reforms led to sick people missing out on care because of high costs;

• Romney's plan led to an increase in wait times; and 

• Romney advocated his plan for the entire country.

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