Romney: Massachusetts plan did not cut health care costs

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is acknowleding that the health care plan he famously implemented as governor did nothing to address costs.

"We were unable to deal with - and didn't have any pretense we would somehow be able to change - health care costs in Massachusetts," Romney said in an interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta. "We still have a fee for service, a re-imbursement system here like every other state in America. That's the way Medicare and Medicaid are structured, that's the way the insurance industry is structured."

Romney said "Massachusetts is not the model" for reducing health care costs.

"We didn't deal with that here in Massachusetts, and frankly dealt with much more narrow issue - getting people insured that weren't insured and, and this is just as important, perhaps even more important, for those who are insured, making them understand that they will never lose their coverage," he said. "If you're in Massachusetts and you've got coverage and you lose your job youre always going to be covered.

Despite Romney's claim that he and his advisers never tried to change costs, The American Spectator pointed out Wednesday that he did boast about the plan's ability to lower costs when the legislation was being implented. In an April 2006 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Romney wrote: "Every uninsured citizen in Massachusetts will soon have affordable health insurance and the costs of health care will be reduced."