Report says that Romney’s state health plan supports illegal immigrants

A new story from the Los Angeles Times reveals one major way Mitt Romney's past record on illegal immigration contradicts his current rhetoric: His Massachusetts health care plan aids illegal immigrants.

Romney signed the state's health care overhaul into law when he was governor, in 2006. The law includes a Health Safety Net program, which provides medical care for undocumented immigrants and other uninsured residents of Massachusetts.

"Uninsured, poor immigrants can walk into a health clinic or hospital in the state and get publicly subsidized care at virtually no cost to them, regardless of their immigration status," writes LA Times reporter Noam N. Levey. Representatives of the Romney campaign told the newspaper that Romney never intended for the Health Safety Net to support undocumented immigrants. But officials involved in the legislation disagreed with that characterization, saying the language does not bar undocumented immigrants from receiving care.

At last week's debate in Nevada, Texas Gov. Rick Perry dredged up a years-old controversy over illegal immigrants who worked for a lawn care service Romney used at his Belmont, Mass. home. Perry once again branded Romney as a supporter of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

And in recent days, Romney has attempted to turn that around on Perry, accusing the Texas governor of supporting education aid for "anchor babies," children of undocumented immigrants.

More popular Yahoo! News stories:

• Herman Cain says abortion should be outlawed

• Did President Obama want American military troops to remain in Iraq?

• Survivors of the Ohio exotic animal outbreak held at Columbus zoo

Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.