October 14, 2011 11:45AM 

# Who Understood RomneyCare Better: Mitt Romney or Ted Kennedy? 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

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The [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF83pV_cwlU&feature=related) below shows former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) relaying a quip that former U.S. senator from Massachusetts Ted Kennedy (D) made at the 2006 signing ceremony for [RomneyCare](https://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa657.pdf), a law that both men labored to make a reality. Cato adjunct scholar [David Hyman](www.cato.org/people/david-hyman) quotes Kennedy’s quip in [this paper](https://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-595.pdf) on RomneyCare:

> When you come to a celebration of a signing and Mitt Romney and Ted Kennedy and the Heritage Foundation are all together, it’s clear one of us didn’t read the bill.

Romney paraphrases Kennedy’s quip at 1:12 into the video, to the amusement of the [conservatives](http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/222513/friends-want-friends-do-health-care/michael-f-cannon) attending the National Review Institute’s Conservative Summit:

RomneyCare later [served as the model](https://www.cato.org/romneycare-making-a-fool-of-every-republican-it-touches-since-2006/) for [ObamaCare](www.cato.org/bad-medicine/). Guess who didn’t read the bill.

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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